Writing with My iPhone 6+

Oddly enough, composing on my iPhone 6+ shares a flavor of the old pencil-and-paper experience. Perhaps it is the hand-held quality of the task, the device in hand and the experience of touch.
I certainly know that the deliberate, slower rate of translation of idea to word to symbol is a characteristic common with writing by hand.
Is this generational? Will my grandchildren compose through dictation without ever lifting a pencil or striking a key? Actually, dictation may also have much in common with writing by hand--gathering the words in the mind and then in the mouth before speaking, hopefully making the words sing.
In the end, it is not the technology but the consciousness of the writer, the speaker, that counts. Technology has certainly streamlined the writing process, and I appreciate that a great deal.
It doesn't hurt, though, to sometimes slow down and savor the rise of thought and word from silence. Sometimes I miss the clack-clack of writing on my old Royal manual typewriter, punching those keys and feeling the letters implanted on the page. Right now I’m pecking away at the iPhone’s touchboard. My thoughts are flowing, albeit at an amble, not a run.
Our lesson to remember, no matter what the medium, is that even though the creative impulse is always in a dynamic hurry to burst into actuality, even in that essential hurry, we should never rush.

Published on December 27, 2015 06:18
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