My Critical Essays

Flipping the Page (into a New Era)

As technology advances, so does our interaction with the rest of the world. An interaction that shuts us out from relishing the feel of paper on our fingertips. The new normal, they say as if it was not our choice to leave behind the old ways in change for cold metal blocks that sit in our hands 24/7. Creating uninformed zombies who walk around in oblivion. Walking along the streets, I can't see any newspaper racks, with their unaesthetic bulks and unpleasant colours, yet they still gave me familiarity. Something that seems to be so difficult to grasp nowadays.

What's worse is, many don't care for the papers; they say it's impractical. And many can't even remember the papers. They didn't have the privilege of experiencing the feeling when sitting next to dad with the smell of cigarettes and ink envelop the senses. The excitement of getting to pretend to be their parents as they sit in dad's chair with the papers in their hands with smudges of ink everywhere, gone. Where has drumming up the truth gone? With the feel of the skin and rattles of the snare deceased, we've turned to machines. The synthetic echoes of the bangs and thuds of the drums sound apathetic and dull and betray that once warm feeling of flipping pages.

Yet, some may say we seem too excited about the new change. Endless information within our grasp, without a price. Truly, what is so bad about it? The control we have on what we hear is a euphoric feeling for many; nothing can be hidden anymore. Any information that is needed is just at the end of our fingertips. It's all there, without a single cent spent. A specific topic may hold dozens of different perspective, broadening our minds further. Allowing humanity to catch a glimpse of reality. The new generation says that it is easier to move with modernism, to "go with the flow", they like to say; and to some extent, I am inclined to agree. Because, what can go wrong?

How about the "blissful" ignorance on the moral ethics of the collection of information? Or how we solely rely on uninformed civilians to "mind-control" us. Back when the relevancy of newspapers was still prevalent, there was hardly debate on whether a fact was true or false, yet now, that's all been disapparated. Can you hear the drums, Fernando? Why has it all been abandoned? They say old habits die hard, so how was it so easy to discard the papers, like someone excitedly getting rid of garbage. Is that what it is now? Garbage?

When I was a little girl, I was sitting at a table in a hotel, eyeing the newspaper rack. I waited until lunch had finished to ask for permission to look at the newspaper. It was a daily occurrence. It had happened so often that I never needed to finish the question when my mum just waved her hand at me. My feet ran as fast as they could, and with a giggle so infectious, my brother always joined in the laughter. Whenever I picked up the newspaper to bring it to my dad and wait for the comic page, the buzz I felt is always something that brings on a serious case of nostalgia.

It's hard now, though. As a teenager in the 21st century, I'm led to believe I shouldn't be reading newspapers, that I should be getting all my information from social media. However, you don't have to read columns and columns of writing to absorb information. Just a glance at social media, and you have a brief insight on events that people like now. And yes, it is much more efficient. Our habits need to keep up with the pace of technology development, or not; we get left behind to eat the dust of those who galloped off into the horizon.

Can you hear the drums, Fernando? Can you hear the full and rich rumble from the timpani drums? With the touch of paper, the physical contact is replaced by a screen—the feeling of flipping paper - gone from our fingertips.

No matter what we like, physical objects or screens, we cannot degrade the other, as we have different opinions on which we prefer more. Without paper, there would be no journalism in social media and vice versa. Without citizen journalism, there would be holes in traditional journalism that may go unaccounted for. Both can learn from each other to create a space where everything can be heard, reliable. I guess that's the new normal, and we can't change how we progress. If we live in the now, we have to respect the new, but never forget the old.