While reading the section “The age of print and the late age of print” through “Words on pages and screens” in “Old Media, New Media, and Knowledge,” Applen argues that the medium where information is communicated through shapes how knowledge is created, shared, and understood. He challenges the idea that content exists independently from its form. Brought me to the realization that whichever medium being used alters the meaning and experience of what you are trying to communicate. With this in mind, the medium becomes just as important as the message. It is just as important to pick the correct source as it is to provide the right information.
Mediums Used As A Divider
The transition from print to digital media has changed the nature of literacy and how information is produced. Perks that come with digital media are convenience and the speed. This is not what digital media is all about. It is about the transformation of how society defines authority, permanence, and understanding. Now things that were questioned by a small majority have spread to show the inequality that, without this media, would have flown above people’s heads.
The divide between the age of print and the late age of print made me think about why there is such a big gap in how different generations understand information. In the age of print, books and any other printed materials carried a sense of credibility and resilience to them. They are fixed, tangible, long lasting sources of information. While, in the late age of print, writing now taking place digitally can be easily edited and reworked, making it more fluid. This fluidity to me takes away a sense of authorship and stability that writing had before. This shift in how writing is taken in has affected not only how we write and read but also how we think, learn, and remember information.
Rewiring the Mind
Applen’s argument brought up to me how I take in information differently depending on how it’s expressed to me. When I read a printed textbook, I tend to slow down, annotate, and try to go deeper with the material. While, when I read articles online I’m most of the time skimming them while focusing on other things too. The medium changes my attention and my understanding. It is not a new idea to me that technology influences my learning and the way I process information.
The part that I really never thought about before reading this was because the medium isn’t paper. I really don’t take the information as seriously as I do when I’m reading a physical article or book. In my mind the “age of print” does hold more credibility. Even though for a large majority of my life I have been in the “late age of print”. This of course is not mean that that’s the correct way to think. It is an unconscious voice in my mind that I have to now rewire it to say, “Hey, you need to apply your full attention to this,” even though it isn’t on paper.
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