Saturday, May 4, 2013

Multimedia

Overheard in the library, little boy, about four of five:

"Daddy, when I finish with the Kindle, can I read a book?"

Ah, innocence. Or maybe just foresight. As far as he's concerned, a Kindle and a book are two media outlets that peacefully coexist. As unaware of the past as he most likely is at that age, they have always peacefully coexisted. It's probably never occurred to him that one may be considered a threat to the other.

For those of us born before 1990, but after 1950, was it any different when it came to movies, radio, and television? Didn't we see those as separate means of communication, each with a message (or a mindless entertainment) specifically tailored to the demands of its particular medium? It never occurred to us that the most recent of those mediums, television, was once considered a threat to the other two.

Until later on, when we read about it in a book. Or on a Kindle.

 

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