Marc Seal
Professor Rau
ENG 101 MD
November 10, 2014
In modern times many
argue over the superior medium of digital or print.
While some may argue
print has clear value over digital media, that value is often mitigated by the
flexibility of technology. The benefits and flexibility of digital media make
it far superior to traditional print.
Digital media ages much
better than print. Dan Blank comments to this in his article titled “Why
Digital Is Better Than Print” when he states “Have you ever saved a magazine
because it had an article you liked in it? Have you ever gone back to that
article? Do you have piles of old newspapers and magazines lying about?” (Blank
1). Media storage can be cumbersome to hold onto when it is in print form.
Saving media digitally allows people to hold onto pieces of information they
choose in a compact form without the burden of keeping countless pieces of
print which will inevitably age poorly.
The adaptability and
flexibility of digital media is what truly makes it the ultimate medium.
Even previously printed and limited material can have an increase in
value once it is brought to digital mediums. Dan Blank illustrates the power of
digital in his article by stating “Once you digitize something, you unleash a
world of possibilities. No longer confined to one medium, it can morph, evolve,
be segment or expanded, be updated, be aggregated, be hyperlinked, and mashed
up.” (Blank 3)
While the superiority of
digital over printed media is apparent by the benefits digital retains, print
also has many negatives that lend to that statement as well. Print is
cumbersome and permanent, edits to print media are a difficult task. In
addition, keeping backups of important media in print form can consume
significant space. People rely on swift and evolving information in order to advance,
print has many shortcomings which do not lend to this.
As time progresses so do
methods for consuming media. Just as media evolved from stone tablets to
papyrus, and then to books, people will continue to advance and evolve the
medium in which our media is held. Print has become increasingly obsolete in
the shadow of modern digital media. Over time the same process will make our
current methods obsolete as well.
Work
Cited
Blank, Dan. “Why Digital Is Better
Than Print.”
I Feel Fine: How I Learned To Stop
Worrying and Love The Web. danblank.com. n. p. 5 August 2000. web. 10 November
2014. web.
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