Einstein discusses the various implications and complexities inherent in birth of the printing press on Western society. While reading this article, I began notice not simply how pervasive the printing press’s affect was on Western Society, but how much we take the over abundance of printing machines for granted. I can’t imagine a world where printing and copying takes more than a couple of minutes or where books are a luxury. What was striking was when Einstein talked the way in which the structure of texts changed. Moreover the “format, arrangement of contents, page layouts and illustrations” have shifted. The format of books has remained the same today. The title page, the table of contents and notes at the end are a universal format most people don’t even think of. Like everything else however, the printing press brought about many changes that may be overlooked but have profoundly shaped the way in which we engage with language.

How has the excess of books, fliers, and just paper in general affected language? This is the question that continues to be unanswered. I thought about the way slang has evolved. Now more than ever, words are being abbreviated. From “lol” to “awk,” we have become lazy with language. It doesn’t matter that words are spelled wrong when I text using my Iphone because the machine will automatically correct it for me. During exams, I’ve struggled with spelling certain words correctly. Usually, I wouldn’t bother. I would simply let the machine do the work for me and feel no guilt about it. Similarly, the printing press laid the foundation for the near instant access to information, the hundreds of thousands of books and magazines that are printed everyday. It has mobilized a certain fluidity that made information very transparent. It made ideas more acceptable and created a line of communication that continues on today.

It’s so easy to buy books these days. Going the student bookstore each semester to get my required texts is a drag because of how long the line usually is at the start of the semester. I never stop to think about how fortunate I am to live in a world where everything is so accessible. In this regard, I’ve become complacent. I hope we can talk about the specific ways the printing press has desensitized us to the ideas held in books.