Digital vs Real.
I was driving in the car today and was tuned in on the radio. News informed me that last year, cd sales for music dropped 15% and music downloads in turn, increased I think about 45%.
Today, it's becoming extremely popular to simply download songs online instead of going to the local music store. Beside the benefits of saving space and the bother of driving over to the store, could this convenience pose as a threat or contribute to the factors that are endangering the country's health?
Think about it. In the last ten years, we've undergone incredible changes concerning culture and technology. From fast food that has provided efficient and cheap food service for all, including the working, poor, and lazy to the rise of video games, console systems that all began from the eighties. Our actions influence who we've become.
For example in Hollywood need I say more, stars there put themselves out to the public traditionally through their work in movies and shows, but lately much of that has changed. Many have downgraded their sense of dignity and have thrown their life of wealth and fame to the grapples of drugs, sex, and violence. Yet still, no matter what they do, their conflict, passion, and frenzy simply fuels more publicity and amusement for all. Hmm, a world of celebrities not known for their Grammys or Oscars, but named for the outrageous incidents clubbing or inappropriate shots elsewhere that in no way demonstrates stardom.
Now with this whole downloading propaganda, I honesty do not trust it. How do you know whatever you download is secure? It would be quite distressful if one invested a great deal of money on music to have it all completely wiped out due to a virus inflicted onto their computer. Cds to me, provide more of a shelter to these worries. I find them reliable. I'm not sure that I believe this only because I've grown up with them since they became popular or that I'm blind to their defects. I do know however, that this idea is similar to owning a digital camera. Sure, somebody can take a million photos and put them onto their hard drive. With the pictures there, you can do amazing things, such as editing without the actual darkroom or one can compose a whole digital gallery/ album of your photos for show. Remarkable what we can do nowadays, yes? But then why am I complaining?
Well, I draw the line to these things. Yes, I have the whole package; music on the computer for easy download to transportable devices and trillions of folders filled with photographic evidence of the memories I've shared with those I love. However, there's a difference to what you feel and see.
Call me old fashion, but I'd prefer boasting about an enormous cd collection or I'd rather have my grandchildren in the future with others gather around me holding a large photo album encased with memories that are safe and sound, instead of crowding over a computer and squinting at the screen.
To feel a photo from long ago is a pure sensation. Looking at my mother and father's old polaroid pictures of their honeymoon, it sent a tingle down my spine thinking that so many years ago, my parents too, held the same photo. It's the same with handwritten letters. Emails are sweet and causal, but handwritten letters are personal and heartfelt. To touch the indents embedded into the paper by their pen is special and nothing can replace that sense of personalization.
Perhaps, I think the steps we take in this technology age can sometimes get a bit extreme. Some propose job interviews on the internet or robots that dance. I won't get into those as I could on and on about how I feel that technology cannot or rather, should not replace the company of another person.
Is technology moving a bit too fast? Are we forgetting something along the way? Or will it be too late to turn around and pick up what's lost? We really cannot tell, but in the mean time, let's try to treasure everything that's palpable to our fingers and ponder about this some more in peace.
-lilxerica
I was driving in the car today and was tuned in on the radio. News informed me that last year, cd sales for music dropped 15% and music downloads in turn, increased I think about 45%.
Today, it's becoming extremely popular to simply download songs online instead of going to the local music store. Beside the benefits of saving space and the bother of driving over to the store, could this convenience pose as a threat or contribute to the factors that are endangering the country's health?
Think about it. In the last ten years, we've undergone incredible changes concerning culture and technology. From fast food that has provided efficient and cheap food service for all, including the working, poor, and lazy to the rise of video games, console systems that all began from the eighties. Our actions influence who we've become.
For example in Hollywood need I say more, stars there put themselves out to the public traditionally through their work in movies and shows, but lately much of that has changed. Many have downgraded their sense of dignity and have thrown their life of wealth and fame to the grapples of drugs, sex, and violence. Yet still, no matter what they do, their conflict, passion, and frenzy simply fuels more publicity and amusement for all. Hmm, a world of celebrities not known for their Grammys or Oscars, but named for the outrageous incidents clubbing or inappropriate shots elsewhere that in no way demonstrates stardom.
Now with this whole downloading propaganda, I honesty do not trust it. How do you know whatever you download is secure? It would be quite distressful if one invested a great deal of money on music to have it all completely wiped out due to a virus inflicted onto their computer. Cds to me, provide more of a shelter to these worries. I find them reliable. I'm not sure that I believe this only because I've grown up with them since they became popular or that I'm blind to their defects. I do know however, that this idea is similar to owning a digital camera. Sure, somebody can take a million photos and put them onto their hard drive. With the pictures there, you can do amazing things, such as editing without the actual darkroom or one can compose a whole digital gallery/ album of your photos for show. Remarkable what we can do nowadays, yes? But then why am I complaining?
Well, I draw the line to these things. Yes, I have the whole package; music on the computer for easy download to transportable devices and trillions of folders filled with photographic evidence of the memories I've shared with those I love. However, there's a difference to what you feel and see.
Call me old fashion, but I'd prefer boasting about an enormous cd collection or I'd rather have my grandchildren in the future with others gather around me holding a large photo album encased with memories that are safe and sound, instead of crowding over a computer and squinting at the screen.
To feel a photo from long ago is a pure sensation. Looking at my mother and father's old polaroid pictures of their honeymoon, it sent a tingle down my spine thinking that so many years ago, my parents too, held the same photo. It's the same with handwritten letters. Emails are sweet and causal, but handwritten letters are personal and heartfelt. To touch the indents embedded into the paper by their pen is special and nothing can replace that sense of personalization.
Perhaps, I think the steps we take in this technology age can sometimes get a bit extreme. Some propose job interviews on the internet or robots that dance. I won't get into those as I could on and on about how I feel that technology cannot or rather, should not replace the company of another person.
Is technology moving a bit too fast? Are we forgetting something along the way? Or will it be too late to turn around and pick up what's lost? We really cannot tell, but in the mean time, let's try to treasure everything that's palpable to our fingers and ponder about this some more in peace.
-lilxerica
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment