A Digital, Scattered Future?
“The Age of Earthquakes” is, without a doubt, one of the more… interesting pieces of “writing” I’ve seen in some time. It uses its very unconventional style- mixing various pop culture and social media images with sparse words of explanation- as a tool to showcase just how scattered and ephemeral the world is becoming as a result of the Internet. The book makes some very interesting claims about what a future with the Internet will hold and why, which are generally well supported by examples by how the world has changed already since its introduction.
“The Age of Earthquakes” is, without a doubt, one of the more… interesting pieces of “writing” I’ve seen in some time. It uses its very unconventional style- mixing various pop culture and social media images with sparse words of explanation- as a tool to showcase just how scattered and ephemeral the world is becoming as a result of the Internet. The book makes some very interesting claims about what a future with the Internet will hold and why, which are generally well supported by examples by how the world has changed already since its introduction.
Yet while I really enjoy the juxtaposition of “past vs. present” and “online vs. reality” within the piece, I can’t wrap my head around its lack of cohesion. There is a definite shift between the discussion future politics and future psychology- the ideas do connect and have a very obvious progression. However, they are still scattered and lack a flow that I feel would make the book more appealing to a wider audience. While this choppiness is likely an intentional stylistic choice by the authors to, again, represent the fleeting nature of modern memory, I do feel like it takes away from the message somewhat. If a reader is annoyed by the style, they may be less likely to pay attention to the greater message.
One thing I definitely appreciated was the made-up dictionary entries as a literary device- they manage to show by example just how quickly our minds and vocabularies are expanding, while also giving the explanations within more clout by making them seem more “official”.
In short, “The Age of Earthquakes” is a very unique piece of literature that poses some very interesting- and possibly uncomfortable- questions about the future of the digitized world we live in today.
(296 words)
Regan Ramsey
IB English HL 2
Hendricks 3A
I totally agree with your writing, this book was very interesting and definitely made me think about how literature and technology are becoming closer. I really like your image too, it really shows how we are so attached to our phones and computers and how it imprints upon us.
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ReplyDeleteI agree that the book does appear to be rather scattered; however, I also find that the scattered aspects of the book aim to make commentary on how are brains have begun to function similarly. The attention span of future generations is decreasing and multitasking as become the norm. You did acknowledge this in your response; however, I disagree that it takes away from the greater message, I think it is the greater message. Without this feature the book would have to describe what it was trying to convey which for some may cause even greater confusion. By including it as a feature of the book readers receive a first hand experience.
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