Throughout history, there have been multitudes of evolutionary changes that have had a profound impact on what we today call the modern world. The birth of technology, and the inevitable changes that have taken place as a result, have vastly improved every facet of society, from education to health care. The most unfortunate part of this evolution comes not from the inability to create a faster more productive method, but from the advantageous aspects of the improved method. In 'Into the Electronic Millenium', Sven Birkerts discusses the decay of the written word and the influence of mass media on that decay.

Throughout the essay, readers are bombarded by the images of books and all that they represent in terms of structure and education. "Print also posits a time axis; the turning of pages, not to mention the vertical decent down the page, is a forward-moving succession, with earlier contents at every point serving as a ground for what follows" (393). Birkerts feels that children are no longer picking up the classics when they set out to complete their homework. Instead, they are logging on to a computer and downloading the latest translation of the piece, without the slightest concern for its content. He states that the decay of language within literature is due, in part, to the evolution of a new form of language which he refers to as "bite-speak." In addition, he blames this language erosion on a lack of writing structure within electronic media. "The complexity and distinctiveness of spoken and written expression, which are deeply bound to traditions of print literacy, will gradually be replaced by a more telegraphic sort of 'plainspeak'" (398).

On a whole, I would have to agree with the arguments made by Birkerts in his essay. However, his emotional approach is at times a bit outrageous. I feel that what is missing from this equation is not the work itself, or the educational value of the work, but the basic human interaction with the work. The human mind feeds off of interaction. When we as individuals sit down to read a book, magazine, or any written work, the environment consumes our unconscious minds. The smell of the newspaper ink, the feel of the worn pages of the book, the sight of the text, these are all stimuli that improve the experiences of learning and absorbing. Without this medium, we are left to tour cyberspace with no immediate response to the writing. We are no longer curled up in our favorite chair, on a rainy day, with a good book.

While I agree that some may disagree with my evaluation of the effect of cyber space on our lives, I have to wonder what will happen to the classic literature that I have grown up reading. Will it fall by the wayside, as did the old black and white movies of my mother's childhood? Will we be reading the slang version of Shakespeare in a few years? For my generation, I suppose that would be just as bad as the seeing the color version of It's A Wonderful Life.