Ong, Walter J. Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word. New York: Routledge, 1982.
“Most persons are surprised, and many distressed, to learn that essentially the same objections commonly urged today against computers were urged by Plato in the Phaedrus (274-7) and in the Seventh Letter against writing” (78).
What’s interesting here, other than that Plato objected to writing in writings, is that these issues from so long ago are still applicable today, where we are beyond the choice of using writing, since it is so integral to our society. It is interesting to think about the other arguments against computers to see if they could have been used against writing. So here are the arguments Dr. Schweig gave as to why we could not have computers in his classroom:
1. It is unnecessarily noisy to type.
Anybody who has ever heard the sound of three dozen pencils scratching on paper understands that this is applicable. Thinking is silent, and speaking is at least a noise that is not usually considered annoying.
2. It is easier to get distracted while using a computer.
Even without the use of the internet to be distracting, while writing, one’s thoughts can wander in a “freewriting” sort of mode, or one can doodle, or be otherwise distracted.
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