Little Readers

Three writing spaces that I use most frequently are my cell phone for text messaging, my laptop for instant messaging or using Microsoft word, and the original pen and paper. Each of these are extremely different and is used in unique ways.

With my cell phone, I use it constantly to text, and monthly I send about 1500 text messages. It’s one of the quickest forms of communicating. I can message anyone at anytime and it’s very convenient. It’s weird to think ten years ago I wasn’t attached to a cell phone, and now if I leave the house without it I feel empty. Cell phones are made to text, send emails, and even go online. I can’t imagine what might be next.

My second form of writing is my laptop. That’s the second most thing I’m always on, and I’m always doing some kind of writing with it. In 90 percent of my classes, everything is required to be typed, or blogged, as this is. What ever happened to using old fashioned pen and paper? If I’m not working on something for class, I’m on Facebook, or MySpace, sending messages to other people.

Lastly, is the original pen and paper. I would choose this as my top favorite. To me, writing on paper is convenient. The chances of it being erased are low, compared to a computer or cell phone that can crash or break. When I’m writing, it is mostly done in journals or in my agenda book that I also use constantly. You can catch me writing everything and anything from what is due in my classes or what appointments I have on the weekends.

Technology is definitely remediating itself. Everything that is created today seems to get bigger and additional features are always updated to make it the best. Something like the iPod, we had nothing close to these a few years ago. Now there’s mp3’s with video, or so small you can fit them in your pocket. Technology seems to keep growing and it becomes competitive with everything out there already.

Kristen Peraset

I think the three writing spaces most relevant to my life would be Microsoft Word, texting, and probably a combination of blogging and instant messaging via the AOL Instant Messenger.  As a college student, Microsoft Word is really indispensible; several times a week I use it to compose responses to readings or write essays.  I think it’s unique in that it’s really “word processing” of my generation’s time.  This is our “typewriter.” 

I test constantly—probably excessively.  I’m constantly talking to my boyfriend, my friends or my brother.  Texting allows me to send friendly “hello’s” or “I love you’s” and it also allows me to make plans with my friends.  Instead of actually taking the time to call my best friend to ask her what time I should pick her up, I simply shoot a text over to her.  Texting and my cell phone really serve as a calendar/planner. 

The last writing space I am fairly dependent upon is done via the internet.  I honestly don’t use AIM as frequently as many of my peers, but I do use it in the same manner I rely on texting; I make plans, check up on friends, and chat with my boyfriend when he isn’t over my house.  It’s really an extended phone conversation.  But, better in my opinion, because there are no awkward pauses or anything along those lines.  I can stop talking for five minutes if I want and then resume my conversation at any time.  I’m also just very accustomed to AIM slang and short-hands.  And, yes, I abuse the use of emoticons.  I also threw blogging in this group.  My best friend and I love to blog about anything and everything.  We typically talk on AIM about what we feel like blogging about at a particular time.  We tend to copy and paste portions of our blog into our conversations to see each other’s responses and thoughts.  I think that alone makes this form of writing unique.  I can really combine two forms of online writing into one.

Regarding remediation, I think Microsoft Word has obviously incorporated earlier advances such as pen and paper writing and the typewriter and simply taken those to the next level.  Now, we can backspace a whole lot easier than before and save our work midstream to go watch football and finish it whenever we feel like it.  So, with that said, I think programs like Word are here to stay.  But, I’m sure advances will soon be made for them that we are currently completely unaware of.  Microsoft releases a new Office Edition like every other year, does it not? 

Cell phones and texting have completely changed styles of communication, particularly among those who are presently in high school and college.  I can’t count the number of times a day I’m checking my cell phone and relaying messages back and forth to different people.  Even the wording has taken past forms of writing and re-directed them into a quick and efficient (if you understand how to read them, that is) style of communication.  I agree with my peer’s suggestion that cell phones are consistently replacing older phones all the time.  For example, I loved the Motorola Razr when it came out, but now my boyfriend has an iphone and he constantly has to show me up with it because he can instantly connect to youtube.com and I can’t.  It’s basically taking writing technology (among other technologies) and making it as compact and transportable as possible.

            In association with the majority of my collegiate peers, the main writing spaces I utilize in my daily life are old-fashioned pen and paper, word processing, and the Internet.  While handwriting and Microsoft Word are both mainly responsible for my own personal expression of language, the Internet has the capacity to communicate with others around the world via such processes as e-mail, and it also allows me to become part of the reading community, which goes hand-in-hand with writing space.  It is, essentially, an instantaneous connection to a diverse buffet of knowledge and entertainment.  I’m able to keep in contact with friends from high school, investigate for college papers, and explore the realms of the World Wide Web.            At the same time, I am able to take what I learn through this modern writing space and apply it in my own written word through the use of word processing.  It allows me to type without concern of mistakes, which makes the entire process so much easier than handwriting.  There is no complicated procedure to erase or eliminate undesired words at a later time that might be messy (like whiteout) or evident (like erased pencil).  All you need is the backspace key and a very general knowledge of computers.  Yet while I often carry my laptop with me during classes, the installed program allows me less freedom than the Internet, per se.  My writing becomes solitary and isolated because I do not always have access to a wireless connection.  However, when it comes to fabricating homework assignments and papers, all I have to do is start my laptop and begin typing.  There’s an ease and flow available that can keep up with my mind and create a clean, precise product.  Plus, the added features of spell-check and an instantaneous thesaurus are beneficial to the writing process.            However, traditional handwriting also contains its individual allure.  While it is often much more arduous and time-consuming, there’s no concern over my computer erasing the files.  In retrospect, I tend to lose individual papers easier than my bulky laptop!  It really all depends on the circumstances and environment.  A pen and paper are ideal for minor lists, while typing them would be an unnecessary step.  Paper is also incredibly compact for transport, so I can carry a notebook with me much easier than my computer.  After all, my books make my backpack heavy enough already.  The benefits of the various writing spaces I use have all evolved to support society’s cry for more.  Word processing developed in response to the immediacy desired by human nature.  We want things, and we want them now. We want to be able to see a finished product that reflects professional layouts and designs.  Over the years, word processing programs have remediated themselves to do exactly that.  They now have more applications and potential than they originally did.  You can use type designed to look like authentic handwriting or newsprint, highlight pieces of text, include graphics, begin with a format that mimics a real piece of paper, and more.  In order to maintain its edge and widespread popularity, it has developed to meet the needs of the people.  The Internet has done the same thing.  Websites are constantly premiering in the cyber world, and each new addition is even more intricate in design.  The increased hypermediacy connects people simply and quickly, and over the past decade, many new applications have arisen in response to the demand of those immersed in its technology.  E-mail fulfilled the desire for immediate networking for a time, but now it is being overtaken by even more advanced processes, such as instant messaging.  To the current generation, e-mail isn’t nearly as efficient or useful as the other options out there.  It’s an evolution that speaks of the times, and people are serving as the catalyst driving the exploration of new technologies.  As a result, I can say with certainty that technological advancements will never plateau so long as there is a market for the “bigger and better” mindset, and there is no knowing to what extremes this demand can push us.   

I would have to agree that I use the computer, my cell phone, and pen and paper most often to write. However, I use the computer the most. To begin, it is my primary source of communications with my best friends who are scattered at various colleges throughout the Northeast thanks to AOL Instant Messenger, and Yahoo Mail allows me daily contact with my much to nervous mom. Additionally, I do almost all school work on the computer, as a result of the ability to instantaneously edit sentences as I go along (the sentence before this one took about five tries to satisfy me before I moved on to this one). I cannot walk into my room without immediately checking to see who is online or if I have another long e-mail, and my computer is only turned off at night. Although the internet can be distracting, I feel that the quality of the work I produce on the computer far exceeds that which I handwrite, and I am most comfortable working from behind the computer screen.

Like most of my peers, I am probably pretty close to being addicted to the accessibility my cell phone’s unlimited text messaging plans provides me. My cell phone is never more then a few feet from my reach in case I hear the chiming text message alert. This summer, I choose to upgrade my phone to a model that has a full QWERTY for easier text messaging. The ability to instantly be in touch with people is very appealing, and sometimes I can go through over hundred messages on a busy day.

In last I place pen and paper. For me, their use has become limited only to class notes, revisions on papers, notes on readings and list making. This is not to say I do not do these things almost daily, but I am least comfortable grasping a pen. To me, this can even be a painful experience as a result of far too many years spent cheerleading, however, writing “manually” is also frustrating because I get ideas in my head faster then I can express them on paper, and the ability to revise my thoughts is not nearly as simple. Whenever possible, I choose to write on the computer over on paper and I feel that as I get older handwriting is slowly becoming phased out of favor.

I believe that all technology is remediating itself. Somewhere down the line, the need to handwrite may be obsolete, replaced entirely by the computer or perhaps even some mechanism that has not yet been invented. Yet, the cell phone and computer are going through constant revisions. My first cell phone five years ago did little more then place and receive calls, and now, not only has text messaging become a standard, minimum requirement, many phones also receive the internet. BlackBerrys, PDAs, and the new IPhone are taking cells to the next level. Even computers are facing constant revisions, take for example Windows Vista. The computer of even ten years ago has a vastly different look from what is popular today as monitors have become flatter and the towers continually smaller. In these ways, the technologies are remediating themselves, shifting to keep pace with a society that is demanding more from their devices, while requiring them to go even faster and be in a sleeker package.

  The three spaces that I use most often for writing are paper and pen, a computer, and my cell phone. The one I use most frequently would be my cell phone. I use my cell phone to text message and that is my standard form of communication with at least 5 of my closest friends. This does not mean that we don’t not talk on the phone to but I would say that eighty percent of my conversations with my closest friends are through text messages. I personally use over a thousand text messages a month.

   The space that would come in at a very close second for me would be pen and paper. I am a writer and I still do all of my drafts on classic pen and paper. I feel that this is still the safest way because no matter how many advances there are in technology there is still room for technological problems. Aside from the personal feelings of safety I feel that pen and paper is still currently economical. That is to say that I can afford to bring paper to class but I still do not own a lap-top. I work from a desk-top. Which brings another point up for me. All of my notes in my academic life are taken on paper. No to mention the personal reminders I write myself more then once a day.

   I would have to say that the third space I use is my computer. I would say that this comes in third place but its a very close third. I use my computer for instant messaging friends, keeping up with my on-line profile on www.facebook.com, and I also use this to type all of my academic and personal writings. The computer is quickly catching up with the classic pen and pencil. I use my computer multiple times a day and I never find myself to far from one. I think that they provide a great way to not only keep in touch with people at a much more proficient rate but they also provide great tools like spell check.

In my life and many others around me I would say that the computer is starting to replace the pen and paper. That is to say that with many advances in technology computers of all kinds are becoming more accessible to everyone. Also computers are becoming more user friendly. There are course for those who wish to learn and for those who already know how to use a computer there is a world of opportunities. That is why I feel that the computer is becoming very close to over taking the number one spot for most people in the ways off communicating and writing.