Writing without technology to be difficult for generation next

Few years back, a sub-editor used to have a dictionary along with the immense knowledge that he had saved in his memory. One had to remember everything such as correct spelling of words, proper usage, parts of speech, grammar, etc. for writing something in English. Old newspapers had to be collected for reference. If someone was interested in a specific subject, he/she had to keep the newspaper cuts of the related articles published before. All this and many more efforts had to be involved in the production of an article a generation back.

On the contrary, Microsoft Word and access to internet have made the process of writing/editing extremely easier than ever. Today’s generation doesn’t need a dictionary or cuts from newspaper to support their writing process. By just clicking ctrl+alt+w, one can simply access to the free WordWeb which not only shows the meaning of a word but also offers all the synonymous, antonymous, related words, similar words and nearest words as well. The most valuable thing is offered by Microsoft Word. The software underlines all the words spelled wrongly in red and all the words and phrases written ungrammatically in green. The facility doesn’t end here. One just has to get the cursor on the word/phrase and right-click the mouse, and the software gives several options that can be considered.

One can also check spelling and grammar at the end of his writing without getting him/her disturbed in between the writing process. With the press of the KEY F7, numerous options can be availed and the entire document can be checked within minutes.

The concern here is that few years down the line, when people may rarely get to write with pen and paper, flawless writing without the support of a computer will probably be impossible.

Jobs that we lost to technology - a warning!

We all are living in a dynamic world. What we see today may not be a part of us tomorrow. This has proved to be a very suitable statement in the jobs market. We have come a long way. The technology is moving so fast that when we tell our children about what we were doing 20 years ago, they may wonder as if they heard some ancient fairy tale.

Sometimes we ourselves forget some facts and act to be ignorant unconsciously. This happened to me when I saw a digital movie posture hanging out of a theatre. It was not too many years ago when we used to find hand-painted postures all around us. I am sure we will still find those postures in the remote rural areas. However, the question that bothers me is how the painters who used to create those postures reacted when they lost their livelihood to technology. This comes as a warning to the people who are still in a profession that is going to surrender itself to technology in the near future.

There are many more jobs that have gone obsolete, forcing huge number of people to accept another profession and to start from the scratch again. Introduction of all the new world machines – computer, phone, television and many more starting from the tailoring machine to the Bulldozer ate up jobs one way or the other. What we learnt from our past is to have a foresight and choose a career that should not give in to technology in a complete sense until we retire. But of course, we will have to adopt technology in the newest form though it will be a tough job to accept an all-in-all revolution. So the bottom line is “get updated”.