The Age of Earthquakes Response

The Age of Netspeak

The Age of Earthquakes by Shumon Basar, Douglas Coupland, and Hans Ulrich Obrist is an interesting book because it defies all the conventions of normal text types. In an effort to not follow the traditional markings of a novel, the book mimics the text of the object it warns readers about--”netspeak”. For example, The Age of Earthquakes hardly ever fills up an entire page with words, it uses images, it has short, repetitive phrases, and it uses made-up words. To compare, Twitter constrains each post to 280 characters, Instagram is a platform for posting pictures with short captions, and the internet gave birth to words such as “meme”, “troll’, or “rt”.

The book clearly states that technology and the constant use of social media rewires our brains. That means that the only way people addicted to using technology can receive information is by giving it to them the same way they consume it. The authors cleverly imitate the language found on technology in a very subtle way. The reader continues to consume the book because its short and sweet and does not take much time to finish (in order for them to quickly go back to their phone, the authors would argue). Images serve as a way for readers to pay attention to important messages that aren’t necessarily put into word form. And the made-up language seems so ridiculous that people fail to realize that they use language just as ridiculous every time they open up an app on their phones. Ultimately, what they aren’t realizing is that the only reason they even got through the book was because it was delivered in a format that they’ve become accustomed to.

Word count: 281

Pastiche