I Type, therefore I Am
"Another virtue is simplicity. Typewriters are good at only one thing: putting words on paper. 'If I’m on a computer, there’s no way I can concentrate on just writing,' said Jon Roth, 23, a journalist who is writing a book on typewriters. 'I’ll be checking my e-mail, my Twitter.' When he uses a typewriter, Mr. Roth said: 'I can sit down and I know I’m writing. It sounds like I’m writing.'” -- The New York Times, March 31, 2011
“It’s about permanence, not being able to hit delete,” he explained. “You have to have some conviction in your thoughts. And that’s my whole philosophy of typewriters.”
That’s what Louis Smith, a 28-year-old hipster from Brooklyn had to say about laying out 150 bucks for a refurbished typewriter that was nearly twice his age.
He and others are [re-]discovering the beauties of keys, ink and paper, according to an article in this morning’s New York Times. About how having something to touch affects humans in ways that the abstract or digital cannot. (more…)
