Just My Type

Amy Wright

We are living in the Information Age. A fact well known to most who currently have their eyes open. What is less known, and certainly not emphasized the Tech. Evangelists living under the self-induced delusion that technology is the next step in human evolution, is that we have been living in the information age for longer than anyone could possibly imagine.

Strictly speaking, the first piece of communications technology was invented in the late 15^th century. I am, of course, referring to the printing press. As long as there has there has been movable type there has been quickly producible, readily available information in the form of what we grand old grey beards like to call “books” (ask your parents). The next major innovation took nearly four-hundred years but such was the speed of human ingenuity before the availability of Chinese sweat shops.

Handwriting, while a beautiful and unique form of art can also be a giant pain in the ass, not to mention the wrist. Which explains the unbridled confusion that met the launch of the first “typewriter” distributed by the Remington company in 1873. More complex than a field rife and requiring roughly the same amount of effort as industrial machinery, the contraption was not an immediate hit. One of the few willing to give it a try at the time being Mark Twain, though I don't believe that this should be held against it.

As usually happens in such cases, except for notions like guacamole milkshakes which tend to be dead on arrival, improvements were made and the typewriter would define several generations of writers from the turn-of-the-century right up until the first, stumbling, steps of the computer industry in the early 1980s. A shift in mindset which would eventually lead to the slow death of the typewriter. Still only the second worst thing IBM did in its over hundred year history.

It is not usually like me to curse but darn it, this is simply not fair. Typewriters where here first, besides which, modern computers might have a few features that are lacking on their progenitors, like spell-checks and the ability to backspace, but they have their draw backs as well. For all the talk I hear praising computers, there is just as much said about the problems users have with them. The “bugs” and the “software” and the cost to buy them in the first place, let alone to get them fixed.

Many of the biggest issues with computers could be solved by simply reverting to the good old typewriter. Sure, they are not exactly portable and need to be oiled, the ribbons run out and can be difficult to find and if you make a mistake you have to white out and type over them word by word and okay, the “cut” and “paste” tended to be a lot more literal so it is generally a good idea of what order you want things to be in before you start writing. It is just one of those things. However, there are also particular advantage no one ever thinks about, so caught up are they in the current tech hysteria. Typewriters make a cool noise. Okay, you actually have to strike the keys but the result is more than worth it. They also never crash, never get a virus, don't even have a web-browser which in itself should cut down on procrastination by about 90%, besides which they look awesome. Sure, you might give yourself a minor hernia getting there but just imagine the looks of the other hipsters down at the coffee shop. And oh the Instragram opportunities. Bitcoin simply cannot buy that sort of quirkiness clout.