Paper vs. Pixels

Taitem Brown, Journalist|January 18, 2019

Our lives have started to revolve around everything digital and people can lose sight of the value of their pictures, notes, or homework. Some people like to keep it old school and still shoot on film or physically take notes. There are the people who are faithful to all things digital. However, the question is, do digital pictures and notes have the same value and meaning as the old physical ways?

There is something about having a Polaroid or film picture that makes it special and different from all the other digital pictures. Those pictures only have one copy and you only get one chance to shoot it right. You have to take care and cherish that single copy because it will not back up to the cloud.

“With digital pictures, you can have multiple copies of the photo and it just doesn’t feel as special,” freshman Allison Flory said.

The possibilities are endless for what we can do with our pictures. Most choose to post them on social media platforms like Instagram. This makes there pictures available for the whole internet to see which can make the pictures not so personal to that person.

“The ones on my Instagram have a different meaning to me. They aren’t fake in any way and I wouldn’t even say I’m trying to make myself appear different on social media for the sake of like, followers, or popularity,” sophomore Sailor Rodgers said.

Some people have decided to make the most of all the new resources and are switching over to digital world. They see all the advantages and how it makes most things simpler. There are certain things that are easier and better digitally and people can’t think how they ever lived before it was digital.

“There is almost nothing that can’t be done better with technology. I especially prefer digital platforms when it comes to art. In an art program like Procreate or Photoshop CC, you can go back after making a mistake without affecting the overall piece and simply start over,” freshman Sam Simon stated.

With advancements in technology these days it seems like we would always choose it over the old ways, but not in all scenarios. Some things are just more special when there is only one copy and can’t be copy and pasted from someone else. The actual raw pictures, notes, and homework give us some reassurance that we will be able to keep those documents for all the time to come.