Media Meditation #3- The Amazon Kindle: Spawn of Lucifer

(Souce:Wired.com)

Revolting and shameful, those are the two words I would have to use if someone asked me to describe the reading device known as "The Kindle". For those of you that live under a rock (or hopefully, in a real book), the Kindle is a wireless reading device created by the online shopping universe known as Amazon.com. This device allows the owner to access over 725,000 e-books, along with access to magazines, newspapers and blogs, and most of the titles are $9.99 or less. The owner can download these e books in less then 60 seconds and depending which Kindle you have, you can either download off of wifi or 3g. The kindle itself is less than 1/3 inch thick and weighs less then a paperback. The reader reads directly off of the device and the battery life lasts a month on one charge. All of what I just said can be found here on the Amazon page for the item that will destroy the world as we know it. This is what the end of the world looks like:



(Source:Amazon.com)

Okay, so now that the facts are thrown out there, here comes my opinion. As a writer and a reader (and a person with some morals), I think the Kindle is the worst thing that has ever happened to the written word. It just plain out isn't right. Sure, I can agree that it's pretty rad if you think about it, but it just is not the same as reading an actual book. You can call me crazy, but I think words should be held in their entirety and placed in a respective spot in your home, instead of being stored in a tiny chip on a piece of fake portable paper along with thousands of other works. You don't actually even physically own it if you think about it. You can't spill coffee on it or attack it with a highlighter or even hide stuff in the pages. It;s just another piece of technology that is unnecessary. The kindle is a status symbol, something a person can use to appear modern and sophisticated instead of normal and wholesome. When I pick up a book, I hold a certain adventure or story or idea or knowledge in the palm of my hand. When I pick up a kindle, I hold multiple outlets of story telling and I lose the certain feeling of respect for the words written because I am overwhelmed by so much. Books are written to be appreciated for the individual message that hides in the pages, books aren't made to just be collected and stored on a chip. They aren't tangible and their existence is futile.

Being a writing major, I have come to the initial conclusion that when I do end up publishing a novel or a piece of literature someday, I will refuse to allow my work to be downloadable in sixty seconds and stored on a piece of technology, especially one with a name like the "Kindle." I want to be a writer because I want to get my thoughts and ideas out to the world. I want to be remembered, even if that means someone comes across a book I wrote in a random attic fifty years after I die. With writing, my name can live forever and so can the stories and perspectives on life that I document in my work. If I am on a bloody Kindle, where do I go when the thing breaks? Wait, don't answer me I remember now, THE TRASH. I shouldn't speak so soon, I most likely will be recycled because the majority of people who own this disastrous device are probably the trendy green people who hang out at Starbucks to look intelligent and hip. Nevertheless, my name will be erased from your memory and so will my thoughts. That upsets me highly.


(Source:ChicagoNow.com

A certain feeling overcomes a person when they physically hold a book, they create memories. The Kindle is just a way to ruin that feeling. So do what the name of the device actually means, use it to start a fire, I mean, it's full of books so it should burn easily, right?

-Mike