Life in the Digital Age

Life in the Digital Age

There are a lot of wacky and wonderful things about living in a Digital Age. For this assignment, we were asked to choose three, so in no particular order:

1.) Blogs about TV shows

I don't know when this happened exactly, but watching my favorite shows has become a truly communal experience. I used to watch TV at home and then maybe if it was a season finale with a great cliffhanger, talk about it the next day with friends.

But now, for my very favorite shows (LOST, Friday Night Lights, Project Runway, The Office, 30 Rock), the experience is not complete unless I read BLOGS and RECAPS with viewer comments the next morning. I don't really understand why this is so important to me since recaps tell me what I already know because I watched it myself (!!!) but honestly I can't concentrate the next day if I don't check the blogs to see if other people were as angry/shocked/confused/amused as I was.

My favorite TV blogs are What's Alan Watching... TV Watch on EW.com.... and the uber-snarky and hilarious Television Without Pity. When I read these blogs, I giggle and snort or get misty-eyed and emotional all over again. Perhaps weird, but true.


2.) Digital junk mail

My least favorite thing about living in a digital age is the way I get bombarded with junk mail about erectile dysfunction.

I don't understand how websites like Google can track my buying habits and favorite stores, but they can't figure out that I don't want or need Viagra.


3.) The ability to spell

Basically, it's gone. I used to take pride in my p-r-e-t-e-r-n-a-t-u-r-a-l spelling ability, but in this digital age, spelling skill is like an
a-p-p-e-n-d-i-x. You don't need it! Thanks to spell-check on the computer, no one knows that I am a champion speller unless I tell them. It's very unseemly to brag, but really, now you have to because it's not immediately apparent :)

Spelling should be stressful, like this: