Can Electronic Media Save You Time?

            Reading texts online can definitely be different than reading printed texts, and I think online reading can be much more efficient than printed reading. However, authors like Sven Birkerts, an American essayist, does not think that electronic reading is the way to go. This is because he believes that the media shift from printed to electronic texts will ultimately cause us to think that images and impressions are more important than logic and concept. I have a couple thoughts about this matter. Number one, images can add to the overall meaning of something you are reading, so they are not a problem. And number two, frankly, I don’t see how he believes that people will think that images and impressions are more important than logic and concept. I feel this way because everyone knows images just support concepts, but the written concept that the images are supporting is what we are actually getting information from.

Furthermore, Birkerts thinks that the printed text is what makes people speak more elegantly, and he thinks people who read electronic texts speak more plainly. The way I see it is words are words no matter what they are on. Birkerts continues to state his opinion about everything that is not printed onto paper as he says, ”With visual media, impression and image take precedence over logic and concept, and detail and linear sequentiality are sacrificed” (122). The piece of paper that someone would read words off of is not what is going to make it be more full of detail or linear sequentiality. No. What is going to make something detailed and logical is how it is written, not what it is written on. In fact, I see electronic texts as a way more efficient way to find details about specific subjects than printed texts would be.

Electronically, you can type in your subject and a few keywords about it into a search engine and instantly get loads of sources with many details on exactly what you are looking for. In a printed text you have to find the actual part of the text that talks about the specific subject you are looking for details on. If the text doesn’t have an index then have fun spending the next few hours just looking for the part that is about your subject. When you find the section or chapter about your subject, the fun doesn’t end! You get to continue skimming the pages looking for keywords that could potentially provide you the details on the subject that you have spent the last several hours looking for. At the end of the day, you’re going to be wishing you just typed in a few words to Google.