<doc.id=3018.a3>
<title> What goes up must come down!; The fall of the written word </title>
For a very long time the written word was the most important medium for learning, exchange of thoughts and not least for depicting the world as a comprehensible whole. Those days are over. The written word will always be a apart of society (I assume and hope) but it has lost its once so honored position as metaphor for modern society. The written word is today just another underling in a world that looks into the future through the eyes of newer, more technological but not necessarily better mediums. I want to show the degradation of respect for the written word by showing two different fields of great importance to society where the written word has had to make way for the newer mediums.
	One of the most self-evident of these fields is the school which has always been a stronghold for the written word. In fact the written word and its ability to record thoughts and systematic thinking is the very foundation upon which the whole educational establishment is built. But every thing is changing. Twenty years ago very few, if any, could imagine the impact computers would have on our conceptions of learning and inevitably the written word. The aim of this essay is not to describe the differences between books and computers. I will merely state that there is a difference and that the traditional written word has very little, or nothing, to do with computers. Most schools in Sweden today would gladly trade all their books for computers, if they could afford it. That way they would be considered modern schools- which means "very good schools!" in society's ears- and get many eager student, happy parents and big fat grants. In highly populated areas like Stockholm, Göteborg and Malmö the competition to attract students by promising computer based learning is already on. The more computers you have the more attractive your school gets. All of this is a bit funny for there is no research that in any way indicates that computers are better for learning. So, where does our enthusiasm for computers come from? The answer must be that we like computers and the changes they bring regardless of the effects it has on learning. 
	Not only the school system has changed because of the way society has altered its perceptions of the written word. Our means of changing the world and our definitions of what is real and important have also changed due to the new order of precedence within media. Religion, ideologies and history have all depended on books to spread their word and tell their stories. If you want to spread a message today you cannot solely depend on the written word. It is absolutely crucial to be acknowledged by television. Television floats above society gazing and when something worth while comes along television raises it so that everybody can behold its beauty or horror. Television decides what it important, what you need to know and what you need to worry about. If it matters, it's on television. I dare to go as far as to say that everyone that has achieved any higher degree of fame, regardless of their vocation, has done so because television for varying reasons has decided to display them and their matters as some thing that matters. Perhaps this is the written word's greatest defeat, having to make way for television as metaphor for modern society. The written word, once recognized as the main medium for describing the world, is today just another item among many in a society supervised by television.
	Television has naturally not chosen to supervise anything. A Medium does have a bias but absolutely not a will. It is very important that we get aware that it is our conceptions that controls society. As long as we regard television and computers as the future that is the way it is going to be. Statements like "Computers are the future!" are very awkward since a medium has no future in itself. A more adequate statement would be "We want to use more computers in our future!". The first statement clearly gives the impression that we must change because technology demands it. I think this "technology demands it" way of looking at the world is very common today. We haven't chosen which mediums to depict our world, we have merely followed where technology has lead us. The problem is that if we aren't the ones leading the way then we have no control over where we are going. The written word has had to make way for the newer mediums in many fields, not because the new mediums are better or worse, only because we love to be led forward by the wonders of technology.
</doc>