Journal #1

Throughout the reading Gitelman and Pingree state how all media was once considered “new media”. Writing in the 21^st century can be considered revolutionary because the tools people use to write are now more advanced; instead of writing on clay tablets or vellum people can now just type on a laptop or smartphone. The digital era and all the technology that is associated with it is the new medium that people use to write. Even though this technology is revolutionary it does not make writing a wholly different experience. When the typewriter came out it was a new technology and it was revolutionary; now a typewriter is archaic. The typewriter was a new medium of writing and it was considered new media. The same way people reacted over their new laptop is probably how people reacted to a typewriter. What is considered new media is perspective. Everything was new at one point or another and it was a revolutionary change when it came out.   

The new mediums in which writing is distributed is something that makes writing a different experience. People can write and get their message across in a blink of an eye in comparison to the past. Before people had to write letters and wait for weeks, even more, before their message was received. Now people can pick up their cell phone and send a text or email and its instantaneous. This is what makes writing in the 21^st century revolutionary. Every new invention or technology that aids in writing has made writing a different experience. Writing in the sense of telling stories and wanting to communicate is still the same now as it was in the past. What makes writing today revolutionary is the accessibility of it. Things like Facebook and Twitter make writing accessible to the masses. A person can go online and post something for hundreds and thousands of people to see. The 21^st century is filled with new media that aids in writing and it is revolutionary now. 50 years down the line there will be something even newer and the technologies kids in the early 2000s grew up with will seem old and outdated.