Progression of Writing

Writing is just like technology, for it has progressed, evolved, and transformed how we live our lives. People have criticized and condemned it, but it has become a vital piece of our everyday life. Just like almost anything, people are scared of change and that is exactly what happened when writing came to be. Socrates wrote that writing would be ambiguous and deceitful. While this was one of the first records of a statement that says writing is untrustworthy, this mentality is still around today. 

Writing has gone through a roller coaster ride when it comes to it's credibility. Socrates stated that writing is very one sided and non-conversational. Socrates compared writing to a painting because they are basically both illustrations of what the author believes to be true. However, you can keep asking with an actual conversation to find the real truth. Due to this, Socrates believed that writing is a false medium and cannot be trusted. Eventually down the road, the ethos behind writing began to shift. Writing became more and more credible because of the fact that the individuals that could read and write were the most educated and typically the most wealthy. 

Nowadays, writing, whether it is hand-done or digital, is becoming more and more skeptical. In order to get trustworthy information you have to make sure that it comes from a credible source. Magazine and the internet are known for creating rumors and providing false information on a variety of topics. For example, anything on a blog or on yelp could be true, but there is a very good chance that it could also be false. You never know who is on the other side of the computer screen writing a review and whether or not they have honest intentions. People are always questioning whether something are credible or not, but there are always somethings that you have to have in official legal writing to know something is legitimate. For example, legal documents, contracts, diplomas, ect. anything that is worthy of recognition. 

The interesting thing about writing is the fact that it is now becoming two sided. With today's technology and social media, almost anything that is written you can respond to. Whether it is a tweet, article, blog, or recipe there is almost always an opportunity to make it a two-way conversation. So even though Socrates would have never of seen that coming and he definitely had a very valid argument, times are changing and is writing and how we perceive it.