Rise of the Machines?

At the beginning of my blog I confessed my struggles with technology and the new direction journalism is taking. I got into this profession because of a passionate love affair with newspapers and the printed word. I would sit for ages at my desk plunking away at my antique typewriter. It was my grandmother's, who died when I was very young. She was a materialistic woman and most of her things were locked in a safe after she died. But on my 14th birthday, my grandpa brought me her typewriter. Several years later I took it to college with me and it still sits on my floor beside my desk. I only got a laptop because I had to. And thus began my aversion to technology.

In class today we were fortunate to have Ed Madison as a guest speaker, educating us on the revolutionary ipad. For about 30 minutes I was pretty enthralled with the idea of this new interactive media. Whereas before, computers isolated people -- it was such a solo activity. Now suddenly with tablets and smartphones, people are reconnecting. What was before a virtual community is now tangible. Writers and journalists can now interact with their readers and give them a "surround sound" experience. This isn't the death of the printed word, as Madison so eloquently put it, it is the marriage. And let's just say, I kind of want one.

And then I hear the make-believe tears of my neglected typewriter and suddenly I remember... Does anyone else recall The Terminator? Words like Skynet, Cyberdine Systems, Human Cyborgs? Yes, it's all a little cheesey -- but the message is the same: what happens when machines take over? Sure, you could make the argument that the new tablet is a step in the other direction -- it's reconnecting people. It's bringing us back together. But it's also encouraging us to rely on it. And relying on technology instead of people raises red flags for someone like me -- someone who has seen The Terminator one too many times.