The thing itself

I've been thinking lately about "thing-ness"; about tactile objects in an increasingly digital age.



I love holding books, marking in them, dog-earing pages, finding notes from friends or roommates or previous owners of the book in the margin, marks that record their struggles or revelations.

I enjoy the experience of opening a cd book and flipping through the old mix cds with the handwriting of people I love. Scrolling through an ipod, with its sleek chirpy-clicky sound, seems weirdly sterile.

I don't like screens. The idea of interacting with a book by just looking at its text while scrolling down a screen is sad to me. Reducing a book to just information seems like a big jump.

Technology serves some wonderful purposes. But I think we need to be more judicious with its use, and that we (as a culture) need to balance all of our digital communicating with some good ole hangin' out.