Not Quite a Story
This is really more of an essay than it is a story, but I've hit a block and this is all I could think of to write. Enjoy! Next week the prompt is "green".
I know I promised to have this for Wednesday, but I spent all day staring at a blank page. I'd write a few lines and then scribble them out. I just wasn't being inspired by technology like I had been the other prompts.
I suppose some of that is how I view technology. It's a means to an end, but not really something that I find overly inspiring or important. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate modern technology. I'm glad that I have an alarm clock that attempts to wake me up in the morning. I'm grateful for a weather radio that warns us of storms in the area. I appreciate being able to connect with friends I no longer live close to with a few clicks of a button. I love being able to go through the publishing process with ease. Technology can be a very good thing.
But even a good thing can be taken too far.
See, I'm a nature girl. Not a hippy. Not a tree-hugger. I don't go au natural to say I'm "greener" than you. I just love nature. I love being outdoors. I love the feel of sunshine on my face and wind in my hair (good thing I live in Kansas, right?). I love the smell of rain and the taste of freshly-picked berries. I just love nature.
I also love books. I love everything about them! You could say I have an addiction and you'd probably be right. I have to feel the pages turning in my hands. I have to smell the ink and the paper. The best smell in the world? A bookshop! It smells like pure creativity! So many great and wonderful ideas in one setting. I have to hear the crinkly sound of new pages and the whisper of old ones.
Yes, I have an addiction which is why I will probably never own or use an ereader. It's not because I think they're bad, per se. I just prefer to enjoy the entire experience that reading offers me. And I can't stand reading off of a screen for long amounts of time which is why I always order a proof copy of my books. It's not just to make sure it looks right. It's so I can edit comfortably.
I understand that for some people and situations an ereader would be beneficial. But I can't help but wish that people weren't so obsessed with gadgets. We're losing the art of real conversation. We're losing the experience of books. Children are losing out on imaginative play because everything has buttons, bells and lights. Those aren't necessarily bad things, but whatever happened to playing out in the yard with a ball? What happened to reading a story and using your imagination to decide the voices and setting?
Recently our public library received a grant which allowed them to refurbish their play area. My kiddos love the library and my son was very excited about the new toys. Among them were baskets with books and toy ereaders to go with them. You pick a book, push the corresponding button on the ereader and then turn the pages and match the shapes with the ereader to read a story. When I first saw them and watched my son "read" a story this way. I was tempted to look into getting something like it for him. You see, my son's love for stories is directly correlated to how far behind I am in my projects. The farther behind I am, the more stories he wants me to read to him. I could see how useful this would be. He could still read lots of stories and I could get my work done. But the more I pondered the idea, the less I liked it. My son is developing the same addiction I have. He has to turn the pages. He loves the feel of a book in his hands. And he loves to hear Mommy sound silly as she makes up voices which he sometimes imitates and often tells Daddy he's doing wrong when it's his turn to read. He's learning to love the experience of a book. I also knew that if I got the set of books with an ereader, I would miss out on time with him. Time that I love. Time that he needs. I wouldn't need to read the story. And if I did, perhaps I'd be the one who was making the "wrong" voice. The ereader also wouldn't pause to take learning moments with my children that I do. It wouldn't ask him to predict what would happen next. It wouldn't ask him if the character had made a good or bad choice. It would just read to him. While that's certainly not a bad thing, I don't know that it's the best way to teach my child to love reading.
Technology is a good thing. It brings a lot of good into this world. But I think we need to be cautious how enthralled we become by it. We need to remember to disconnect sometimes. We need to remember to not just read a story, but to experience a book.
I know I promised to have this for Wednesday, but I spent all day staring at a blank page. I'd write a few lines and then scribble them out. I just wasn't being inspired by technology like I had been the other prompts.
I suppose some of that is how I view technology. It's a means to an end, but not really something that I find overly inspiring or important. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate modern technology. I'm glad that I have an alarm clock that attempts to wake me up in the morning. I'm grateful for a weather radio that warns us of storms in the area. I appreciate being able to connect with friends I no longer live close to with a few clicks of a button. I love being able to go through the publishing process with ease. Technology can be a very good thing.
But even a good thing can be taken too far.
See, I'm a nature girl. Not a hippy. Not a tree-hugger. I don't go au natural to say I'm "greener" than you. I just love nature. I love being outdoors. I love the feel of sunshine on my face and wind in my hair (good thing I live in Kansas, right?). I love the smell of rain and the taste of freshly-picked berries. I just love nature.
I also love books. I love everything about them! You could say I have an addiction and you'd probably be right. I have to feel the pages turning in my hands. I have to smell the ink and the paper. The best smell in the world? A bookshop! It smells like pure creativity! So many great and wonderful ideas in one setting. I have to hear the crinkly sound of new pages and the whisper of old ones.
Yes, I have an addiction which is why I will probably never own or use an ereader. It's not because I think they're bad, per se. I just prefer to enjoy the entire experience that reading offers me. And I can't stand reading off of a screen for long amounts of time which is why I always order a proof copy of my books. It's not just to make sure it looks right. It's so I can edit comfortably.
I understand that for some people and situations an ereader would be beneficial. But I can't help but wish that people weren't so obsessed with gadgets. We're losing the art of real conversation. We're losing the experience of books. Children are losing out on imaginative play because everything has buttons, bells and lights. Those aren't necessarily bad things, but whatever happened to playing out in the yard with a ball? What happened to reading a story and using your imagination to decide the voices and setting?
Recently our public library received a grant which allowed them to refurbish their play area. My kiddos love the library and my son was very excited about the new toys. Among them were baskets with books and toy ereaders to go with them. You pick a book, push the corresponding button on the ereader and then turn the pages and match the shapes with the ereader to read a story. When I first saw them and watched my son "read" a story this way. I was tempted to look into getting something like it for him. You see, my son's love for stories is directly correlated to how far behind I am in my projects. The farther behind I am, the more stories he wants me to read to him. I could see how useful this would be. He could still read lots of stories and I could get my work done. But the more I pondered the idea, the less I liked it. My son is developing the same addiction I have. He has to turn the pages. He loves the feel of a book in his hands. And he loves to hear Mommy sound silly as she makes up voices which he sometimes imitates and often tells Daddy he's doing wrong when it's his turn to read. He's learning to love the experience of a book. I also knew that if I got the set of books with an ereader, I would miss out on time with him. Time that I love. Time that he needs. I wouldn't need to read the story. And if I did, perhaps I'd be the one who was making the "wrong" voice. The ereader also wouldn't pause to take learning moments with my children that I do. It wouldn't ask him to predict what would happen next. It wouldn't ask him if the character had made a good or bad choice. It would just read to him. While that's certainly not a bad thing, I don't know that it's the best way to teach my child to love reading.
Technology is a good thing. It brings a lot of good into this world. But I think we need to be cautious how enthralled we become by it. We need to remember to disconnect sometimes. We need to remember to not just read a story, but to experience a book.
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