| Pillow Talk |
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| Written by Kay Saul |
 Perhaps this was my fault, as pillow talk should be a free and open space to be yourself - in every capacity imaginable. Two people lie there after obvious physical grappling and have a calm chat about simple things that don’t matter here or there. Perhaps I don't have to make special note here that my pillow talk is far from meaningless. It's a time when my mind runs to issues of compatibility, world dilemmas, the state of our country and other undesirable topics to discuss at this highly inappropriate time.After brief silence, which I can't stand for longer than 10 minutes outside of a yoga studio, I bring up my displeasure with the continued dissolution of print media. Magazines, news journals, educational and sociological publications have all taken at least 60% of their content online. We see more Nooks, Kindles and iPad’s on the subway being utilized by gentrified reading audiences than ever before. We read our newspapers via an iPad or iPhone New York Times app. Certainly, I acknowledge the reasons for this shift - technology has provided us with more convenience than ever before. We don't have to log around multiple books to keep a sharp mind; we no longer have to use our memories to remember phone numbers, notes or other necessities. Hell, even the most religious among us (get the pun there) no longer need a Bible or any other religious text in print. We have apps for that.  My then sweetheart makes a reasonable argument - the shift affords more of us to be more productive than we could have ever been before. Technology isn’t a bad thing: we use Facebook and Twitter not just as a connectivity tool, but also for networking. It affords us all the opportunity to brand ourselves and our businesses with the ease of simply creating a page. But then he says something that bewilders me: If we have children, he'd much rather buy them a Kindle or iPad than books in print. I begin my process of trying to understand varying opinions rather than judging them. I scan my brain for reasons: is he all of a sudden an environmental savior? Is this because he can save trees and protect our forests, thereby protecting natural animal habitats and preventing species from becoming endangered? Has he seen a recent documentary to cause such a statement? I hope for a genuine reason - a reason that would suggest that my relationship still has some hope.He believes technology is just more useful. He believes in making reading convenient for a 7 year old. No need for books. Electronic media can take over, and that's perfectly fine. I ask about reading time at local bookstores, story Saturdays at the library, turning the page and waiting for the suspense as we read our future children night time stories. My hope goes unanswered, as he believes none of these things are necessary.  The thing is - social interaction is steadily changing. It may be fine for us adults to replace an actual smile with a smiley face, to read our favorite books on our E-Readers than to purchase them from bookstores, for magazine publishers to take all of their content online and do away with the expense of print. But, these are technological luxuries that we should not expose children to right away. Let them learn to take care of a good book, to experience the exhilarating excitement I felt when my parents let me choose a new book every Friday, to see illustrations in print. Am I misguided in some way for feeling so strongly that children are exposed too soon to convenience?Even handwriting has become 'old fashioned.’ Case in point - when's the last time you saw someone's handwriting that wasn't in a card or on a sign-in sheet? A poet friend of mine complained a few months ago about the personal interaction lost in typing his imprisoned cousin a letter. His observation was touching; there must be so much that is missed when a person, already cut off from the rest of society, has to read a typed letter from a family member who doesn't give handwriting a thought. A few independent schools are currently petitioning to have less handwriting courses in favor of typing classes for children. Their point? Typing is something that children have to learn. It's crucial to their future. I don't completely disagree with this of course, however, isn't proper handwriting part of basic literacy? Are we really reaching the point where the ability of knowing to insert two spaces after a period is more qualified than knowing how to write a proper cursive Q? I'm a writer. This means I can be biased here. I have a value for pen and paper, even as I currently type this article on my iPad on the subway. I do value the convenience, but when I can, I love to sit with my favorite pen and a few sheets of paper. I want my future children to have this same value. I want to go back to the basics - find the middle ground between technology and literacy. I don't want to FaceTime my child; I want to see and feel their faces in front of me. I don't want them reading E-Books at 7; I want to buy them books in print. I don't doubt that at some point in our planet's future, there will be underground societies where people talk face to face without the distraction of televisions, radios and iPods. Courses called 'Paper and Pen' and 'Eye Contact' will be taught in university classrooms. For now, I look forward to weeding out the unwanted in my dating pool based on at least a few of these values. Harsh? Perhaps. But while I love and see the value of technological media and advances as much as the next realistic person, I have to at least try to keep some of the basics. I’m sure this decision will heed some reward. |