Old School Versus High Tech

There's a lot in the news today about how we are the "microwave generation" where we want everything done yesterday. Disappearing is the lost art of the handwritten letter with the advent of e-mail, texting, etc. In fact I think I read it started with the telegraph.

Also recently in the news here in Hawaii, public schools will drop teaching cursive handwriting. This is happening all over the US. My sons go to private school, the oldest learned italics last year in the second grade and the teacher said he'll learn cursive this year in the third grade. Anyway most of the news articles about cursive mention that it helps with a lot more than nice writing, but also with motor skills and other brain development subjects though I myself am not smart enough to know what that stuff is.

Sad is the closing of Borders Books because everyone is using e-readers. The post office is on the brink of being shut down because of cyber communication. Hard to find music CDs anymore because of downloads and MP3s. I don't even want to think about vinyl.

I myself may have "wronged" my sons by providing them with iPads, DS, Wii, use of the computer.

I recently started a morning devotional, something I've been wanting to do for some time now. I'm "old school" and really wanted to use a print Bible, no fancy high tech Bible gizmos for me. But recently I've acquired an iPad which made surfing the internet more convenient. I also found a Bible study site with fantastic tools. Instead of a print Bible where you have only one translation or version (unless you have a huge cross reference Bible), you now have a whole list of them, just click and you change from King James, to American Standard to New Living, etc and a lot I've never heard of. Also there are a host of other tools like commentaries, cross references, footnotes and probably a lot I have not looked at yet.

Part of my devotions include journaling, something I've been trying to do unsuccessfully for many years. In fact I wrote a fairly recent post about a new journal I bought which remains rather empty. But since I've started writing in it, I now see the value of writing in cursive. When I write it's the words flow on to the page from my Mont Blanc 149. You can see the ink flow and blend into the words that seem to just flow from from my soul onto the page. My handwriting had been "on the edge" recently because I haven't been writing as much as I'd like to, but my hand seems to become steadier the more I write.

So why not take the best of both worlds? Blend high tech with old school? Letter writing and e-mails both have their place as does Twitter, Facebook , Crane Paper and Hallmark.



Recently we went to an open house for our youngest son's first grade class. It was a combined function for kindergarten and first grade. I was so surprised when the principle for K-1 talked about what they're looking at for the students. They're looking at what they will need for college and beyond. He said the "big thing" now seems to be neurology...again over my head. But he had a list of books he recommended parents read. I didn't bother to write them down because I'm not a reader, but there was one that stood out, "Now You See It". I think there's something in this book that ties into what I am writing here on the post. Thus far I've only downloaded the sample in iBooks but plan to read the entire book. But...

Sigh...

Here we go again. Electronic book or print? We'll see. But when I'm writing...

I prefer cursive!