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Permalink Reply by Sloane on 4th mo. 8, 2010 at 8:07am

I have a laptop. That's it. Its for my little online business. Like you Martin, I find myself reading more blogs and articles then books , and it has been bothering me. Even though I only have a laptop, it is definitly a distraction. It sits on my dining room table and calls to me. Time lapses when I am on it, and I am trying to Limit my time on it. But it isn't as easy as I thought it would be.

Maybe there is a 12 step meeting for this kind of thing. Hey, I can start one on-line...lol. Oh wait, that would defeat the purpose. ha ha ha

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Permalink Reply by Barbara Quintiliano on 4th mo. 8, 2010 at 11:50pm

Well, Martin, eat your heart out. My boss says he's going to get an iPad for each of us librarians to play with. I can't say I'm thrilled. I don't know what my problem is, but my laptop pretty much fulfills my online connection needs. I also have a fairly generic cell phone --no Internet connection or picture-taking capabilities-- a Zen Stone mp3 player, and a digital camera. I have no problem with "silos" as the boss likes to call them, individual devices each for its own discreet function.

If I were a student, however, I think I would appreciate how having all my textbooks on a Kindle or iPad would lighten the load I had to carry each day.

But when I want to read a book --be it for work or pleasure-- I want to hold a run-of-the-mill, tried-and-true codex. It's just simpler.I don't have to subscribe to it or connect to the Internet to access it or recharge the device containing it. I don't have to put earphones on (although I do enjoy listening to an audiobook now and then, sort of like reading with my ears for a change instead of my eyes).

And when I'm reading a book borrowed from a library and some of the pages are a bit worn and dog-eared at the corners, I feel as though I'm holding in my hands something that unknown friends have also cherished. If the binding is a little more (com)pliant than it used to be, it's because previous readers have graciously tucked bits of their thoughts into it.

So I give thanks for the simple codex and for the library network that crisscrosses the region where I live, sending me books on all sorts of subjects, in different languages, and all for free.

But then, I'm just an old librarian.

Is the venerable codex more "rightly ordered" than an iPad? I'd be presumptuous to make such an assertion, I think.

My main concern about the "rightly ordered" nature of these devices centers around the speed at which the next generation of gadget replaces the previous one, coupled with the relative affordability of these devices in more affluent countries, which has already launched a frenzy of acquiring, discarding and reacquiring. I am truly haunted at times by the piles of discarded PC monitors and cell phones I see in my head ...with piles of discarded Kindles and iPads soon to rise in an adjoining dump. Do they also have toxic components to poison the landfills and ground water? Are we going to ship them also to the Philippines and elsewhere, for the children of the poor to pick over and get contaminated? Do they also contain some sort of blood mineral, like coltan?

This is what I worry about most. (Maybe I'm just crazy.)

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Permalink Reply by Rosemary Gould on 4th mo. 16, 2010 at 7:36pm

I'm new here. Thanks for introducing this topic. When I started receiving emails from friends with sign offs "from my ipod," or "from my blackberry," I thought of signing off "from my borg nodule." If we are evolving into a symbiosis with our technology, what effect will that have on us within? I think I find it harder to sink deep into worship if I'm spending a lot of time on the web. I know I have a harder time focusing on the people around me. And yet there are great openings for creativity and solidarity online. I appreciate Marc's comparison with farming. Some of the best people I know are returning to farming.

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Permalink Reply by Ely on 4th mo. 21, 2010 at 11:19pm

I think it's allowing us to make connections with more people than we would have ever imagined. Instead of just reading about an event in a newspaper, you can get real time updates about the event from those experiencing it. Just think of the elections in Iran or the earthquake in Haiti. I followed the election from Twitter on my mobile at work. When organizations were asking for aid in Haiti, I donated money by text message. I would have never been able to be so involved in these events if it weren't for this kind of technology. I wouldn't have found this website and all the great people on it without it. I think it's great to let yourself be distracted once in awhile.

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