Reflection of GE

Although it was difficult, I enjoyed reading The Gutenberg Elegies. Initially I was extremely put off by many harsh statements and difficult diction found in the introductions; however, as I continued to read the chapters I found that in all honesty Sven was correct. Technology could significantly change our lives and we need to be aware of it, and able to draw a line where our dependence becomes too much.

The first thing that caught my attention was the discussion of the change from vertical to horizontal reading. I agree with Sven’s analysis that reading nowadays is much more extensive. Currently, we read more books, magazines, etc. but we skim it over so fast that none of it stays in our thoughts. Previously, our reading was more vertical because people only had a few books in their collection that they would read multiple times extracting the full meaning of the text with deep analysis. Historian Rolf Engelsing states, “From the Middle Ages until sometime after 1750,[...]men read ‘intensively.’ They only had a few books[...]they read them over and over again[...]By 1800 men were reading ‘extensively.’ They read all kinds of material[...]read it only once, and then raced on to the next item”(71). Because there are numerous encounters with reading in this generation, people try to inform themselves with everything possible. The Internet in particular has contributed to this greatly by throwing many ads and commercials at our computer screen. This habit of trying to read over everything has ultimately caused our generation’s attention spans to be much shorter.

Another aspect discussed frequently was the different state people enter when they read. While many readers enter that “alternate” state when they read a novel, I seem to struggle with it. Sven describes “the state [you] occupy while reading often feels more focused, more meaningful, more real, than those that comprise most of my nonreading life”(103). I wish I was able to experience this while reading, but unfortunately my passion or interest in the readings aren’t as strong.

Reading the Afterward gave me a great idea of how Sven feels and why he chose to write this book. He expresses two large concerns: we will become a shallower society, and we will lose human gravity, and although these are valid concerns I am not too worried because they are such an extreme result. After reading The Gutenberg Elegies I gained a greater realization that technology is going to continue to be used in our lives no matter how hard we to avoid using it; however, it’s how we choose to use technology that will effect our generation. This book has given us a warning that if we don’t moderate the usage now there may be nothing in the future to help slow us down. Being able to resist the use of technology is only going to get more difficult as more gadgets are produced. So who will be the ready ones to deny it? Who knows, and that is a scary thought.

-Shelby Holt