So I've been asked to discuss, or at least try to, about my feelings on why we take this course, PWR 209, its purposes, intentions, reasoning behind it, and also to explain why I feel the way i do about technology.

I've said before that we are "made" to take this course, for all that I wish we didnt. I use the word make but I also understand why it is enforced that we learn these skills that we are (apparently, supposedly, hopefully) learning. The world is changing, and I understand that- although the extent of how much it has changed and will change, and is still currently changing, scares the hell out of me. Scares might not be the most accurate word, but it's the closest. As we see from aim, and the books we've been reading, communication is transforming. We don't have to wait to see people to talk to them, wait for the post to come to get letters, wait for film to be developed to see pictures we just took. It's all immediately done. We can talk by phones, get letters by email, and then there's all that digital craziness; everything is at this incredibly high speed. It scares me because I can't even fathom how fast things are moving, how fast technology just caught us and sped us along into the future. A lot of what it is that repels me from technology is I don't see this new technology as being necessary. The only thing I need is a word processor. I've grown to embrace some other aspects of the computer, and this "digital" era, but I don't find them necessary. I love aim because I'm better at expressing myself through words- being a writing major and all- but I don't need it. My favorite part of being away from my house, or away from "real life" is not having access to a computer. I think this might be part of my upbringing.
I grew up in a house that, I now realize, has different values and interests than others. The thing is, i still think that it's normal. I didn;'t have a television from 1997 to 2007. That's ten years. That's a pretty long time. It broke, and my mother decided we didn't need to get a new one. We had a computer- we didn't need a tv. So after awhile, I realized I really didn't need a tv. Even when I watch television, even now, i sit there with a book. That way I can transfer back and forth to whichever interests me more. I don't get really excited about new technology, because i guess I'm easily satisfied, if not beyond satisfied with what i'ev got. I'm big on nature, a lot more than I realized. And I could be fully satisfied without any of this "technology" even including cell phones, as long as I have a way to write. I don't think that it's "technology" I hate- not the old technology, anyway. It's the development of technology I don't see as necessary. Pens and pencils are necessary. Medication is necessary- but thats a perfect example. We're trying all these new cures, new tools- without knowing what their future represcussions will be. And mybe we aren't risking our bodies, like with medicine- but we are risking our society, the way it functions, and the way that we communicate. And that scares me.
But alas, I think the purpose of this class it to show that writing is changing. Authors might someday be expected to instead of writing the book and publishing it on paper, to publish certain parts of it, whatever they've got, drafts or whatever, online. They will be expected to keep journals, and update their readers on whats going on. Part of this new era of communications is the demands from others to be accessible. We don' t like things we can't have immediately, andI can bet that there will be contracts with publishing companies (and new publishing companies will be established- soley online), where the writer has to agree to provide intallments or a certain amount of writing posted online weekly, or whatever the agreement is. In order for a writer to function, and actually still get their work read, one has to understand how to use the technology. It;'s not just useful in writing though- it's also for life. This class is showing us how quickly communication and technology are moving, and trying to get us at least on the general boat in the right direction to understand how and why it' happening, and how to function in our society with it. For all that I fight these changes, I do understand why they are necessary in "real" life. But I have a feeling that my fight is not with technology, but with the acceptance that technology is "real" life.