A little proof

Today, while watching TV, I saw a commercial for Dragon software, a program that allows one to speak into a microphone for it to translate the spoken sounds into written words.  A grandmother wanted to help her grandson's written expression in school, so she bought the program for him.  The grandson then gave a testimonial.  He said that having to use pencil and paper distracted his thought process to the point that he couldn't focus on what to say.  Speaking words helped him to bring the process of thinking and "writing" (in this case, seeing the spoken words in written form as feedback) together again.  He could write without distraction.  [This is a commercial so even though the writing process has been grossly oversimplified, the bottom line is often true.]

This is the most apparent evidence yet that writing first, and then reading soon after, are in their dying throes.  One of the most asked questions when I make such statements is, "What will take their places?"  The statistics of the growth of YouTube illustrate phenomenal growth.  People use YouTube for everything from watching music videos to presenting concepts as a teacher would in a classroom.  Recently, my brother's daughter wanted to send a heartfelt message to my family, so she videoed herself playing a song she had played and sung on the piano and emailed a message and a URL so that we could watch her song.  So, I would suggest that the new format already exists for what the future holds in the place of writing and reading.

As far as format goes, perhaps the National Geographic Channel's series of programs presenting how the different land features were formed on the Earth is the new model.  The series was called How the Earth Was Made.  I reference here the episode called America's Gold.  In this 43-minute video, you meet several experts, you see actual mining taking place, you see explanatory graphics, you hear an easy, but very organized narration of how gold was formed in America, and you hear a recap of the important information at the end.

No one knows what format the ultimate form will take to replace the pen and page, but it seems to me that the visual is already on the screen (a parody of the writing is already on wall, ha).  All kinds of opportunities exist with this format.

I am so ready to welcome the easier-to-make and much-better-remembered formats of YouTube and NGC as the first wave of presentation.  And, I'm even more ready to say goodbye to the painful, time-consuming art of writing.  See ya runes. Good to see you pics.  You couldn't come soon enough.