Reversion to Analog – Part 2: Advantages of Analog

(This post was written on August 6th, 2011, and posted on August 7th, 2011)

As I write (yes, write. Not type (see last post)) this blog post, I consider the advantages of reverting to an analog form of writing, and the advantages of other analog methods. And I’d better think of them fast, because that’s the subject of this post.

In our day and age, essays in college are either submitted online, or in a very specifically-formatted typed piece/sheaf of paper. At BYU-I, with the laptop initiative (the requirement of every student to have a laptop), a tendency of taking class notes on a laptop exists, and seems to be developing. The use of paper may be dying out. Dunno. And reading books, even! THE EPITOME OF PAPER USE! It’s being paperless-ized as we adopt use of inventions like the Kindle and the Nook. Now: There is every possibility that I’m delusional. And I have nothing against technology. But I do believe that there will be a time in the future (and there comes a time every day) that one or more pieces of technology in our vicinity will fail to perform their functions. And it will be useful, at that time, in my opinion, for us to know how to do in an analog format what we depend on doing digitally. Recently, in one of my classes, a few students were unable to read an analog clock. Now, granted, that’s a piece of technology that would fail with a digital clock, but it was still sad to see that these people didn’t know how to read it. And I hope that wasn’t a by-product of the current American education system, and if it was, I hope we don’t stop learning how to write anytime soon. Being forced to write my thought in a journal, as it were, because of a lack of computer access has been nice. It’s shown me a few things, and I’ve been able to see some advantages to making a reversion.

1. Gratitude for Technology. When you have to write everything by hand, you realize how much faster it is to type things. And I think one gains a greater gratitude for the technology that allows us to type. It really saves us a lot of time. And to be able to transmit in digital format! I mean, if this were a message to someone specific, after finishing it, I would have to stick it in an envelope, put a stamp on it, mail it, and then wait at least 3 or 4 days for a response. But on a computer, I can copy and paste the text into a message box, and push a button, and immediately it arrives at the virtual front door of the receiver. The technology we use that allows us to communicate and record words and ideas is such a blessing.

2. A desire to learn shorthand. With the gratitude for efficiency (and with its loss) there comes (at least, to me) a desire to regain that efficiency. But I don’t want to buy another computer at this point in my life for the same reason. I decided to sell the other one. And so I would like a different method, and learning shorthand seems like a good idea, especially in the context of digital independence. I’ve wanted to learn shorthand since a year or so ago; since my hand couldn’t keep up with what went in my ears. I want to learn a way to write faster, and get back some of that efficiency that went with my laptop. But that’s only an advantage if I use that extra time purposefully, right? Which brings me to my next point:

3. I really don’t need Facebook. I know. Shocking, right? But it’s true! I can get along just fine with a phone as far as social communication goes. And in some ways, I’d like to wean myself off of that, too. See, I feel like Facebook, texting, and even email are crippling me socially. Back in the day, when you wanted to talk to someone, you had to actually talk to them, whether that meant to be within range of hearing, or to have a conversation face-to-face with them, it involved speaking. Using your voice. To mail a letter to your next-door neighbor just wasn’t efficient enough for communication. But the modern message, which takes the form of an email, a text, or a Facebook message is efficient enough for communication because it’s virtually instantaneous! And it’s PREFERABLE! You know that awkward situation when you have to tell someone something but don’t really want to tell them? Years ago, you had to at least get a friend to deliver the message for you, or mail them a letter, maybe. But it would usually result, eventually, in a direct conversation. Now, if you fell so inclined, you can text someone to break up with them, because you just don’t want to be in that situation. But to do so deprives you of social skills and valuable (though painful) experiences. And as you deprive yourself of much of today’s communication technology, I believe you gain growth and you learn to really communicate. And if we’re going to talk about efficiency, what’s more efficient if you’re trying to have a conversation with someone than having a conversation? You can fit a minute’s worth of texts into something closer to 10 or 15 seconds. We have mouths. I think it would be a good idea to use them more. And if you’d like, go ahead and try it! Try taking a break from Facebook, or texting, or from email (if that’s at all feasible) and see if it changes your life in a positive way. I’m not necessarily saying we should abandon these things, just that we should be independent of them; we should be able to get along without them, if we can.

4. I have the opportunity to be social, and I LOVE IT! I spent today without checking my Facebook or my email, interacting with family and friends. Having adventures, getting some work done, eating great food, and talking. And it was so great. I don’t know that anything could’ve made today better. It was amazing. I spent a day doing something I tend to avoid, that is, being social, and I found that I really enjoyed it.

5. My writing hand has been gaining strength! …yeah, okay. Maybe I’m reaching, but it really feels good to know I can still use my hand to write, and I don’t need a computer to record something.

It’s kind of fun to me to go back to just writing: an old electricity-free standby. (Except for the car light over my head). I guess I’m not totally independent. But I can dream, right? :)

Reversion to Analog – Part 1: Macbook Air Review

(This post and many that follow it are/will be typed from a written form.)

I am writing (yes, Writing) this blog post on a tablet; no, not an iPad; not a Samsung Galaxy Tab; I’m talking about a composition book. Like the kind you buy in a 3-pack at Wal-Mart or Staples. The kind your piano teacher writes your progress in. That’s right, folks! I’m without my computer. The Macbook Air I purchased for my 2nd semester of college now belongs to me cousin and her husband. Sentences that might take a matter of 10 or 15 seconds to write (like this one) now take twice that time. But I don’t want to complain; rather, I want to give a review on the Air and look at the positives of this situation.

First: The Macbook Air. I was almost totally satisfied. In fact, were it not for my negative experience with Safari and a few freezing problems, I would have been absolutely satisfied, and these are the reasons why:

1. When designing the 3rd generation Macbook Air (the one I owned), Apple took a lesson from their design of the iPad, namely, flash storage. Instead of having a hard drive with a lot of moving parts, like most desktops and laptops, Apple used a Solid State Drive, reducing the risk of malfunction and effectively increasing speed. That means that when I bought my laptop, the time between me pushing the power button and arriving at a screen ready for me to use was about 5 seconds. It was FAST. Therefore I had no need to leave the computer on between uses to save time booting up. The flash storage was already saving time. So I could preserve small amounts of battery life that way.

2. The Air is SO LIGHT. And for a guy like me, who packs all his textbooks in his bag every day, just in case he can get some time in between classes to work on his homework, leaving a few pounds out of a backpack is REALLY nice. The model of the Macbook Air I owned (11-inch screen) weighted 2.3 pounds. And it functioned just fine (except for a few blips). You would think such a computer wouldn’t hold up to a lot of functions and programs, but I think it held its own; it packed a fair punch. So, despite its small weight and size (both advantages in my opinion) the Macbook Air has the capacity to perform the functions the average college student needs. I didn’t do much experimenting with iMovie or GarageBand, but I would assume that they work fine.

3. Functionability. You needn’t worry that you will have a hard time typing on a Macbook Air. The keyboard is the same size as any standard Mac keyboard (without a number pad, of course). The glass trackpad was big enough for me to perform the new Lion gestures, and to navigate in general, and you’ll be surprised how acceptable the screen size is if you use it for a little while. If you find there isn’t enough room on your screen, you can always zoom out to make windows smaller, OR, with the Lion substitute for Exposé (Mission Control) and Screen-To-Screen scrolling, you can give every app its own window and navigate through them quickly. Mac OS X Lion is a standard on every new Mac, including the Macbook Air, and it adds so much functionability.

Now the negative: My Macbook Air, while running under Safari, lost its ability to handle YouTube. Firefox works well, but there was something about YouTube that put Safari on he fritz, and caused my computer to freeze, even with the extra 2 gigabytes of Ram the computer came upgraded with (A total of 4 gigabytes). The plus side is that the Macbook Air has a Dual-Core processor, and Safari freezing would only consume the entire processing power of one core, leaving me ample time to save or close whatever I needed to. And the new Airs come default with at least a 1.6 GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor, which I presume would’ve solved my problem, or at least improved upon it. So, software aside and hardware alone, the Macbook Air I owned was fantastic. I was satisfied, and I would recommend it to any English Major, as I am. An 11-inch screen is absolutely adequate, processing power kept me afloat, and the design is so smooth. I give my model 4 ½ stars, and feel confident in recommending the latest model, though I haven’t used it yet. Good luck buying your Mac!

Update: I use Firefox now. There's something about Safari I don't like. :P Which reminds me...

:)

Don’t Go It Alone

I recently learned an interesting lesson and it strengthened my testimony of a VERY important gospel principle.

My family and I just visited Nauvoo, Illinois to be with friends and watch the Nauvoo Pageant. When you attend, if you linger for a little while before or after the Pageant, you will more than likely be approached by a member of the cast who wants to speak to you about sharing the gospel message with others. They will ask you if there is anyone you thought of during the pageant that could use the gospel, and if there is (or you are not a member of the church) they will ask you to fill out a referral card for that person (or for yourself). The card will then go to the missionaries, who will send the person a copy of the pageant CD and (I think) the DVD of the restoration, delivered by a pair of missionaries. A member of the cast came up to me before the Pageant, and we talked for a little while, and then he challenged me to fill out 15 referral cards by the end of the pageant, and bore his testimony. I agreed, with some doubt, and took the 15 cards. Living in Rexburg means you will be surrounded by members of the church, and so it was hard for me to think of anyone. But as I sat and thought, I got 15 names, which I wrote on the 15 cards. I even had an extra, making 16. And I wrote down as much information as I could, copied down the names for myself so I could get the contact information later, and gave the cards to that cast member. The next day, I was trying to contact people so I could get their information, and I received a response from one of them that left me sort of jarred. The person said that they didn’t wish to offend me, but that they were not interested in the church, and that they found information about missionary work and the gospel sincerely offensive. They ended their message by wishing me well.

This was devastating to me. Afterwards, I felt like it was hard for me to feel the spirit, and I felt like my testimony was shattered. “How could anyone take offense to the gospel? Is it really true?” It was hard. And for several hours afterward, I simmered in depression and anger and confusion. Eventually, I decided to open my mouth and let off some steam. After talking to the people in my vicinity, I felt much better, and that is the principle I would like to talk about. When things were hard, I wanted to go it alone, and I wanted to bounce back by myself; I wanted to be independent of anyone else. But I was having no success in that arena. And when I finally decided to accept help, I felt SO much better for it. There’s a passage in Doctrine and Covenants 76:

40 And this is the ^agospel, the glad ^btidings, which the voice out of the heavens bore record unto us—

41 That he ^acame into the world, even Jesus, to be ^bcrucified for the world, and to ^cbear the sins of the ^dworld, and to ^esanctify the world, and to ^fcleanse it from all unrighteousness;

42 That through him all might be ^asaved whom the Father had put into his ^bpower and made by him;

There is a hard truth that we must face, and that is that we cannot do mortality by ourselves. From infancy, we needed help to learn and to grow, and even at our present age, nothing we do is done independently. We rely so much on other people, and the many things they do for us. This computer I’m typing on, this chair that I’m sitting in, and this house in which I live were not created by me. Neither was the food I eat every day grown or harvested by my efforts. I do nothing independently. And what I want to teach in this post is that we cannot make it back to the presence of God independently. And that’s just the way it is. Through our own imperfection, we have rendered ourselves incapable of being with God. But there is hope, and that hope comes in the Atonement of Christ, and that is the root of the message we share: that Christ, the son of God, came into the world. He preached and he prophesied, he taught, and he healed. He established his gospel. And then, in his final days, he entered the Garden of Gethsemane, and suffered for everything you, I, or anyone else has experienced on this Earth. Sickness, broken bones, heartbreak, and remorse for sin; he felt it all. And then he was taken before the people, and condemned to death. He was beaten, scourged, mocked, and then crucified. And then, after 3 days in the tomb, he was resurrected, paving the way for us to follow! And we are saved from physical and spiritual death because of his willingness to obey the command of Heavenly Father, and because of the love he has for us. But to be saved from spiritual death and to receive Eternal Life, there are steps we need to take. And those steps can be found in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which we preach. That is our message: that Christ is there to help us make it back to our Heavenly Father. And I want to testify that we cannot do that by ourselves; we need his help.

There is a video made by the church that will perhaps convey this message better than I can. It can be found here. Thanks for reading. If you would like more information on the church, please don’t hesitate to visit lds.org or mormon.org.