In his book “The information” James Gleick points that written communication “comes into being to retain information across time and space” (31). While certainly technology only increases the place for storage of information with its vast databases, the question must be asked whether it also allows us to obtain that information easily.

The obvious answer seems yes – without internet we could not learn about events that happen across the oceans in seconds, we could not get our hands on curated content so easily and we would certainly not be able to see what our friends have for lunch every now and then through their Instagram posts. However, at a moment when all information in the world is at our fingertips due to the web and its many search engines, remembering information becomes seemingly unnecessary. We become better at finding what we need to know, but worse at studying and remembering it. Arguably, this still propels human innovation and the spread of ideas, yet it seems we have, to a certain extent, become better at finding where the information lies, rather than remembering what it says. Is that what knowing things means? 

This argument is supplemented by James Gleick when he notes that “The power [of conveying information] lies not just in the knowledge, preserved and passed forward, valuable as it is, but in the methodology: encoded visual indications, the acts of transference, substituting signs for things” (32). Because of the vast information around us and the many channels by which we can obtain it our attention spans have decreased. This has made us more repulsive towards sources of information that require dedication and time to go through, like books. Curated content can be seen as boring when compared to click-bite worthy titles and the pleasing belief that a sophisticated topic can be fully understood from a 5 minute video. Presentation of information has become, to a certain extent, more important that the content being presented, which in my mind undermines the reason why we wish to share and obtain information.