Wirelessness

First off, I don’t think that mobility/wirelessness has affected writing as much as the proliferation of the change in the physical way we write. I think that the shift from pen to paper to typing away on QWERTY has changed writing more than the shift from a word processor to a MacBook Pro in Starbucks. Although it’s easier to get across ideas as quickly as they flow through my head when typing on a computer, there’s something therapeutic about organizing your thoughts on paper that can’t be achieved on a laptop. And beyond that, even viewing a scanned image of someone’s letter tells you more about the author than a transcript of the same text.

That being said, I think the wirelessness shift in our world has brought about an incredible increase in the spread of ideas, obviously. We take it for granted, though. It’s amazing how quickly I can attain information about literally anything, but I can’t say I’m amazed by it because it’s simply something I’ve grown completely accustomed to. In fact, I get frustrated when my phone won’t send a text message in less than five seconds. I mean really, think about how incredible it is that I’m first of all frustrated by something that trivial, but also that I’m frustrated that something is being sent to a satellite in space and back down to another person’s unattached wireless device on Earth and I’m annoyed that it doesn’t send quicker. (Disclaimer: that’s my very limited understanding of the way cellular text messaging works).

The spread of even complex ideas and incredible technology available brings about the paradox of how simple it is to access and spread these concepts. The mission statement for TedTalks is literally “Spreading Ideas.” And it really is that simple. We have the ability to access and expand our perspectives at every moment, however, unfortunately many of us (often myself included) are still scrolling through miles and miles of innocuous BS on social media. At least we can take solace in the fact that the opportunity is there, as it obviously was not even ten years ago.