How does Litt describe the relationship between literature, writing, and technology?

Litt uses his own personal experience as a way to describe how interconnected technology is with writing. For example, when he didn’t have the same technology offered today, his immediate inclination was to go outside, or when inside, delve into writing for recreational and private purposes. Quite similarly, I began to write poetry when I was bored and felt like expressing myself in a more personal and private way. Then, I grew attached to poetry, as it became a pastime I did more often than not.

Litt discusses how many classical tales were driven by distance, or lack of connectivity, rendering these plotlines obsolete in the digital age. Has technology affected your perceptions of more classical literature? What do types of issues are the stories of today driven by?

I think technology has indeed changed my perceptions of classical literature in both good and bad ways. For example, although I read Shakespearean plays in school, the videos and other resources provided to me from technology at my hands, allowed me to understand the structure and poetry that Shakespeare utilized. In another sense, I read classical literature when I was in elementary school, and although my vocabulary was not at the level, I did enjoy those books. However, now I think I’d prefer to watch an adaptation as a pastime, although I recognize that these are never as good as the book.

How might you see technology disrupting/change the stories of today or the future? (Consider how might tropes might change as technology advances, or how it has already) 

The stories have already begun to change. I’ve read Emily Dickinson’s poems, and many of their themes are beautiful or on the other hand sorrowful, but I can’t always relate to her poems. Her surroundings were definitely more different than today. Poetry today still references themes that are common to us as humans: death, love, mourning- such themes, however, are developed in different manners. The author may have had more of an opportunity to travel and interact with more cultures, seeing as technology has advanced so much. Stories go from being “single-stories” to more open-minded works of art.

What is your opinion? How does reading on a screen or through these various interfaces affect you/your learning/reading comprehension?

I feel more detached to the story, in a sense. Reading an e-book in my leisure time feels unnatural. I’d much rather grab a book, and flip through it’s pages. When I read on a screen, my mind has learned to associate it as a task for school or something else. I read every day, in spanish or english. However, I don’t feel like my comprehension increases or decreases due to the fact that I’m reading from a screen. I do find myself skimming a lot more, and I think that the words I read per minute have decreased, although this is just my personal perception.