Who Knows?

Online writing is a new and revolutionary medium, a product of twentieth century technology.  This newfound ability to write and publish things online is greatly under appreciated by people in general.  At the click of a button, your writing can be read worldwide by anyone with Internet access, how cool is that?  Only Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press is a bigger breakthrough.  Although we may not realize it, our generation has been the witnesses to the birth and growth of the child named electronic writing.  This new form of writing has come so far since its debut, and it is hard to imagine where it will be in another ten years.  However, one thing is certain, and that is that we have not yet seen the best of electronic writing.  It will continue to grow and change in front of our eyes, incorporating itself into our lives more and more as time goes on.

Improvement in technology is the main reason why electronic writing will be able to continue to grow.  I know this from looking at the history of the Internet and online writing (the two go hand in hand). Ten years ago, far fewer people were able to own computers because the technology was not there to make computers affordable enough for every family to own.  Or, perhaps the technology was there, but the computer market was not ready for such a drastic change.  Either way, now that the computer has virtually become a household object, much more people have access to the Internet.  Furthermore, we are able to connect to the Internet so much faster now that the days of dialup are over.  Both of these factors contribute to an increase in ease of use, which will definitely continue to be a big factor in the growth of the Internet (and electronic writing).  Naturally, with the growth of the Internet, comes the growth of electronic writing.  More readers mean more writers. As time goes on, the technology will continue to improve, and more and more readers will come, leading to the continuous expansion of writing online.  Think of all the 1,330,044,605 people in China that do not have the money to afford a computer and do not have the technological means to access the Internet.  In the future, virtually everyone will have a computer as well as Internet access, which will expand online writing and lead to new innovations online.

I cannot predict what these innovations will be, or else I would be a millionaire, but they will be similar to the invention of the blog or the wiki.  The future innovations will come as revolutions, as opposed to steady change.  All the big time online innovations to date, such as the wiki, have been revolutionary, and future innovations will continue to be revolutionary.  Growth of the popularity of electronic writing will also happen in revolutions.  The reason for this is because there will be revolutions in technology which will allow a large population of people who could not previously read online to access the Internet.  As far as the writing itself, the sheer volume, or amount of writing will increase.   As I mentioned earlier, more readers equals an opportunity for more writers.

Soon, communication will be completely paperless.  This paperless movement will fit in nicely with the “Going green” idea that is currently taking over businesses and will be a large part of our countries future.  Online social networking sites such as facebook and myspace, which allow you to communicate with anyone who has a their own page, will continue to grow.  Other traditionally hand-written forms of communication, such as the thank you note, will continue to disappear, thanks to e-mail and the ability to send things like thank you telegrams online.  Other forms of communication in the same category as thank you notes include any hand-written letters, cards, and invitations.  Also, in the future you will never have to sign your name when using a credit card, thanks to those electronic signature pads. 

With all communication becoming paperless, the environment will benefit. Less paper will be needed for things like school textbooks and notebooks, as well as newspapers.  As a result, fewer trees will be cut down. More trees will lead to a plethora of benefits including more air to breathe, more wood available for construction purposes, and more wildlife for tourists to observe on their trip to the rainforest. Imagine all the room that will be saved in the landfills, and smoke from when the paper is burned that will not enter the atmosphere. Although these benefits may not seem like much, when you consider the distant future, say 100 plus years, these environmentally healthier habits will make a huge difference.

Contrary to the environment, the growth of electronic writing will end up hurting the economy.  Along with the decrease in the amount of paper needed, will come a cut back in the amount of jobs.  Every imaginable aspect of the paper infrastructure will be affected, from the lumberjacks, to the packing companies, to the Dunder Mifflin paper company employees.  Unfortunately, the downsizing in episode 7 season 3 of The Office will become a reality some day, and on a much bigger scale.  However, even though the paper world will suffer, more jobs will be created from the growth of the electronic technology industry. Generally, with any advance in technology comes an increase in jobs, and the future advances in electronic technology will be no exception. Our economy will receive a boost from the new jobs that will outweigh the loss the economy will suffer from losing paper industry jobs.

When the people who cannot afford a computer right now get access to the Internet, they will have an abundance of information at their fingertips that was not available to them before.  The information online will allow them will to educate themselves in a particular trade that can be used to make a living, There is so much information online that they will definitely be able to find something useful. Online writing will provide the people of these less fortunate countries the opportunity to make something better of their lives.  With a larger workforce, these third world countries will be better off economically and also as a country overall.  Not to mention the fact that more people working means less time for doing nothing, which can often times lead to criminal activity.  Less criminals and more learning going on will help to create a better environment that will help the country become steadily better over time.  

Future generations will become more and more attached to electronic devices, as they will be used for even more then they are used today.  The future advances in technology are unknown and unlimited, but one thing is for certain: these technological advancements will continue to affect the growth of electronic writing. Computers cannot get much smaller without becoming inconvenient, however they can develop the software to put everything you could ever want on to that computer. Soon, there will be a device that is small enough to fit in your pocket, but has every function you could want or need. For example, there will be a small device that acts as a computer, phone, and game system all in one. Ease of use is created from having everything on one tiny device.  As a result of this increased ease of use, electronic writing will become the main source of information.

Electronic writing will play a much greater role in schools than it does today. Less importance will be placed on handwriting, and learning cursive will be a thing of the past. Instead, kids will be learning about different ways to write electronically (wiki’s, blogs, typing classes, etc.) in the third grade.  Advances in computer technology will enable most third graders to have his or her own computer as well.  Also, textbooks may be published online, saving tons of money in the replacement and textbook damage fees.  In the future when computers cost less money, the money saved by not buying any textbooks will more than make up for the cost for every student to be provided with his or her own computer.

With computers becoming more common, there is a new paradigm for the age at which children are getting computers.  This new trend of children using computers at a younger and younger age will lead to a generation of much more computer efficient people. Many elderly people who did not grow up with computers still have not learned to use a computer, probably because they spent most of their lives without using one.  With the elderly population dying out, in the future, a greater percentage of the population will be computer savvy.  For example, my seven year old cousin, who already has his own computer with access to the Internet, can hold his own when it comes to using a computer.  On the other hand, my Grandma is a stranger to computers, and is slowly learning how to use all of it’s features.  This fundamental difference in the way each generation views computers is a result of the age at which the two generations were introduced to computers.  The young childrens’ generation will be able to do so much more with electronic writing than any generation before. 

Computers will be utilized much more by the next generation then they are now, due to this increased familiarity resulting from the early exposure.  The larger amount of people familiar with computers and browsing the web will naturally lead to an increase in the popularity of online writing.  Also, with young children getting computers, more kids will grow up to be software and computer engineers due to their extensive knowledge learned starting at a young age.  This increase in workers who are able to design computer chips and things of that nature will definitely benefit the United States.  With more workers in the computer designing industry, there is a greater chance of someone inventing the next big computer chip that revolutionizes the weapons industry.  If the United States could somehow gain the upper hand by boasting the most technologically advanced weapons, that would definitely help to secure our national well-being.

Future generations will become more and more attached to electronic devices, as they will be used for even more then they are used today.  The future advances in technology are unknown and unlimited, but one thing is for certain: these technological advancements will continue to affect the growth of electronic writing. Computers cannot get much smaller without becoming inconvenient, however they can develop the software to put everything you could ever want on to that computer. Soon, there will be a device that is small enough to fit in your pocket, but has every function you could want or need. For example, there will be a small device that acts as a computer, phone, and game system all in one. Ease of use is created from having everything on one tiny device.  As a result of this increased ease of use, electronic writing will become the main source of information.

Ease of use is a very important factor when it comes to electronics, if you need an example, just look at the first computers. One computer used to be the size of a classroom and now they can fit in the palm of your hand.  “Where a calculator on the ENIAC is equipped with 18,000 vacuum tubes and weighs 30 tons, computers in the future may have only 1,000 vaccuum tubes and perhaps weigh 1.5 tons,” (Unknown, Popular Mechanics, March 1949).  Not only does this quote highlight the importance of ease of use, it also shows that sometimes, it is just to early in history know any what will happen.  Even this magazine, which is supposed to be an expert in its field, could not see what lay ahead in the future of computers.  This same concept holds true when looking at the future of electronic writing.  How can we know what will happen in the future?  The answer is that we cannot truly know what the future has in store, and only time can tell what changes will occur.  This quote from Marshal Ferdinand Foch, a French military strategist and future World War One Commander, is from 1911.  “Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value.”  In retrospect, this military Commander’s professional opinion also turned out to be a little off.