Polaroid is Time Travel

Are we losing something important as more and more of our lives become contained in digital media rather than in real physical concrete objects? I realize that a blogs is an ironic place to address this question. However, it is precisely this blog and Facebook into which I invest significant "virtual" time... And as I do I occasionally become concerned regarding the value of that time and the intangibility of my achievement... Primarily, what I mean by that is that I invest a significant amount of creative energy into particularly this blog and entrust it to Google. I know I should back it up... but I haven't. And realistically Google is probably more reliable that my computer. So in one sense these words are more secure and certainly more visible but are they more or less real?

In the hypothetical abstract, which the internet is perhaps merely an extension of, we all happily affirm that yes these words are just as "real" as any other words... BUT we also all know that there is something special about getting a hand written letter or a note... There is something very different about physically painting letters onto paper with ink so as to form words and sentences and having people physically move it to its recipient in comparison to the buttons and technology required to send an email. Communication occurs both ways, and one way is much much faster, and yet there is perhaps a closer connection made between the two people in the physical act of writing and sending a letter. The same way I felt connected to people who have for thousands of years have worshipped in the Holy Sepulchre, touched those stones, walked those stairs... There is something about knowing that your friend or lover held that piece of paper, smeared the ink, ingrained their style and personality into their writing as they formed each letter, misspelled a word and crossed it out, folded the paper, licked the envelope... In comparison to the messy and enfleshed difficulty of writing a letter, email offers a near perfectly sterile and virtually telepathic meeting of minds and sharing of information. All my words have been spell checked and all my letters are perfectly uniform in Times New Roman. The problem, of course, as we all know, both from general life experience and even in conversation on this blog, is that humanity depends on tone, body language and context to infer meaning and it is actually far more difficult to communicate through the disembodied word than one might at first think. 

I like to refer to Polaroid pictures as the closest thing there is to time travel... When you look at an analog Polaroid picture you are staring a chemical reaction from the actual light waves of that very moment... In all other forms of photography both analog and digital there is a 2 or 3 step process of interpretation and representation that occurs... However, they don't always come out very well, and you certainly don't get to find out right away. In contrast digital gives you even more instant in your photography experience, which will help you to capture that moment and memory just as you remember it... And yet after its been cropped and photoshopped, no matter how beautiful it is, no matter how much it looks like what we think we remember or want to remember... there is a deep skepticism in me regarding images... A skepticism that is overwhelmed by the reality of a Polaroid... 

I prefer the visceral act of painting on canvas to a digital painting on a tablet. I prefer writing to typing. I prefer dipping pens in ink to ball point Bics. I prefer Polaroids to digital. I prefer Hookah to cigarettes. I prefer organic food. I prefer buildings at least 100 years old. I prefer old cars. I prefer seeing you in person than talking on the phone. 

BUT I prefer Facebook to not seeing you at all. I prefer blogging to not writing. I prefer a digital audience to no audience. I am seduced by the promise of ease and security. I am seduced by instant gratification and eternal life... After all, Google is forever...

Would Jesus be impressed by the miracle of multiplication that digital reality affords us? 

Technology is supposed to make our life better, easier, happier etc... Is it?

Whats your favourite analog experience?

Imagine a world without digital reality... Share your thoughts here on the intertubes...

Is this just nostalgia or has our reality actually been negatively impacted? Cost/Benefit?