Rate of Change
Life is affected by technology in an infinite number of ways, but everyone has a different opinion about whether those effects are positive or negative. Sven Birkerts, a critic of electronic text, wrote the novel The Gutenberg Elegies to emphasize his negative viewpoint on technology. He states, “The rate of change, social and technological, has surpassed exponentially the gradually escalating rates of previous periods” (214). Everyone can agree with Birkerts’ assertion that technology is advancing because they have witnessed the advent of phones, music players, television, and other electronics during their lifetime. The Internet in itself is a huge milestone, and, less than 20 years after its introduction to the public, phones can be used to access the Internet to check email, download music, and play games. It is obvious that technology is constantly evolving and become more advanced, but is it changing too quickly? While many can see both sides of the argument, electronic devices play too large of a role in modern life for society to ignore them.
Technology is a powerful tool that helps society advance and become more sophisticated. Without it, the world would be quieter and incredibly less connected. Many people cannot even imagine what life would be like without television, phones, and computers. These devices allow faster, more convenient communication between people who may not even live on the same continent. Information can be transmitted from place to place at the click of a button, allowing everyone in the world access to knowledge that they would not otherwise have. Technology is extremely influential and has helped the human race achieve many goals, from non-invasive surgery to accurate weather predictions. In a society where people always want things bigger, better, and faster, technology is an aspect of life that most people do not want to live without.
Shelley Jackson’s Patchwork Girl demonstrates how rapidly technology has advanced in the past decade. The Internet allows people to link to countless sites with just the click of a button and, while Patchwork Girl does this to some extent, it is much more limited than society is accustomed to. The StorySpace program allows the user to navigate to different text boxes without having to follow the traditional line-by-line format that most novels use. Jackson purposefully uses the program in order to try to intrigue the reader and give him/her a different type of reading experience. Instead, its non-linear format confuses the audience and leaves them with no true sense of what the story is about. While it may have been an exciting program to use when it first came out, those who utilize it now deem it limiting because they are so familiar with the Internet. It is quite frustrating to read and comprehend because technology has progressed so much since it was published. Still, many readers would rather read hypertext like Patchwork Girl as opposed to a traditional book because it is closer to the style of text that they are familiar with. Even though Jackson’s text is somewhat limited in comparison to modern technologies such as the Internet, it is more interactive than reading a conventional novel page by page.
While many people adore hypertext, the Internet, and electronic devices, there are still a select few, like Birkerts, who are strongly opposed to society’s increasing dependence on technology. There is a piece of technology to achieve almost any goal, and as long as there is access to that technology, people would rather use it than do things the old-fashioned way. Birkerts is not keen on society’s dependence and believes that people are “wiring [themselves] into a gigantic hive” (219). His point is valid in the sense that life is affected by technology is every aspect, whether it affects one’s everyday tasks, professional life, or social life. However, what is wrong with taking the easy way out? Math would be a million times harder without calculators; researching and writing papers for school would take much longer without computers. Technological advancements occur continually, and there is a “steady displacement of old by new, a generational pressure that escalates, its momentum gathers and the members of the old dispensation age and die off” (214). All new devices are improvements upon a previous idea or tool, making it easy for society to adapt to using the new appliance to replace an old one. The only issue with newer and better products coming out is that the old products become useless. For example, Apple has come out with the iPhone, a device that allows the user to listen to music, place phone calls, check email, and access the Internet. Unfortunately, like Patchwork Girl and the StorySpace program, people who have the iPhone no longer have any use for their old, less sophisticated phones and music players. StorySpace is an obsolete program just 13 years after it was published, thus causing the reader to wonder about its relevance in today’s society.
In a society that constantly craves more, there is no time for old, outdated technology. Birkerts believes that things are progressing too quickly, as demonstrated by Patchwork Girl and the StorySpace program. New technology builds upon old devices, causing the old tools to become obsolete. The world is becoming more sophisticated with each passing day, but most people believe that the changes are positive. Technology gives us access to information and the ability to achieve goals that we would not be able to reach otherwise. As long as there is currently a machine to complete the task, there is no need for the old machine.
Works Cited:
Birkerts, Sven. The Gutenberg Elegies. New York: Faber and Faber, Inc., 1994.
Self Evaluation:
I believe that I took a unique approach to this paper. I was having issues with organizing my thoughts, but I think I really pulled it off in terms of clarity. I am extremely satisfied with this paper and my argument sounds put-together and mature when you read it out loud! 
