People have been telling stories before dialect existed and the development of narrating through books have for quite some time been a device that has kept these oral stories that have past down from age to age alive. Be that as it may, has current innovation made these conventions old?
The innovations of digital books caused the knockdown costs of printed books and tablets, for example, Kindles and alcoves turned into a risk to book publishers and dealers.
“Literature has inadvertently found itself at war with the Internet.” (Jim Hinks, 2015)
Based on Nielsen’s book research figures, it appears that printed books had outsold the amount spent on e-books by two times the amount. In spite of these apprehensions, it appears that the period of the printed book would appear to be a long way from being done, but if this is the case then why do people believe that will make books obsolete?
Jane Smiley suggests that “the novel has died for us,” (2014) but what she meant was the ability to produce possible empathy through the pages of a novel. The ability to enable readers to see the world through the character, translating the words on the page into thoughts and feelings. In her ’13 ways of looking at the novel’ (2014), she questions whether the novel has died and what is to replace it? She then goes on to discuss that technology will not kill the novel as it is “too different from movies and other forms of visual entertainment to be replaced by them.” If this is the case then the quote “the novel has died for us”, would be an overstatement.
However, she also states that when the day novels die, society will be filled with people who speak and look like us but have no way of understanding each other. The act of imagination is what causes empathy when reading a story, the common needs, goals and aspirations that humans share is the reason why we are able to empathise for these characters. If this ability is taken away, then Smiley’s world of alternate humans would come true.
In spite of that, does the evolution of storytelling really mean that the ability to produce empathy really dies with it? Despite her claims, I disagree with it; I believe that modern technology will and has transform storytelling as we know it. Virtual reality was previously used for desensitisation for phobias and PTSD. ” VRE provides the opportunity to manipulate exposures in ways that might not be possible in-vivo, such as repeating a virtual flight landing multiple times. VRE also affords complete control, as the provider can control the dose and specific aspects of the exposure environment to match the specific patient’s feared stimuli and optimize individualized pacing through exposures.” (J. Maples-Keller, 2017) Dr. Albert Rizzo and his group at the University of Southern California worked with the U.S. military for about two decades to make augmented reality projects to help the sufferers of numerous kinds of mental issue increase better control of their bodies and psyches, including Iraq war veterans beating Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Below Rizzo explains the idea behind this proejct.
Researchers from the University of Barcelona and the August Pi I Sunyer Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBAPS) built a computer-generated simulation with the goal that men who carried out abusive behaviour can experience what their victims experienced. The investigation demonstrates that these brutal individuals have an absence of emotional recognition and that virtual experience enhances the member’s view of feelings. This study suggests that modern technology can definitely envoke empathy, going against what smiley is suggesting.
Within the last decade, social media has ignited a rebirth of storytelling. In many ways, people who use social media are in their own rights, storytellers. We are no longer the viewers but instead have become our own directors. “Storytelling is critical to every part of life, not just business and this is especially true with social media. People listen to stories and love being engaged in these stories.” (L. Bullock, n.d.) Platforms like Youtube and Twitter have created channels for use to spread our stories to our followers. Not only that, with online tools like Facebook Live and Periscope, we’re able to share our stories as it happens. Below is an example of how we use social media to share our stories. Youtube is a popular platform which allows people to record and post our stories and these popular ‘story time’ videos have the ability to share their personal accounts which in its self-goes back to the idea that technology can, in fact, evoke emotion, as people are able to relate tho this young lady.
in contrast to this, we may have the ability to openly share our own stories at our own fingertips; it may not be as positive as it seems. Social media also means that we only hear or see what people want us to see. An example is
“American opinion about the war in Iraq changed dramatically once U.S. citizens started hearing the soldiers’ and civilians’ blogged stories, on both sides of the conflict, and realized that the US government sanctioned media stories which they had been told previously were, at best, misleading and, at worst, false – namely, that US soldiers were, to a person, in support of their efforts and the Iraqis were nothing but thrilled to be released from Saddam’s totalitarian iron grip, no matter what the cost. ” (PJ Manney, 2008)
“Collecting and preserving stories, both then and now, was never just about communication; it’s about engaging in community.” (F. Chaves, n.d)
Technology may play a hand in making traditional literature extinct but it has in no way killed the art of storytelling, It has evolved and created endless opportunities to revolutionise the way we tell stories. The ability to immerse yourself through words on a tablet or getting completely lost in the centre of a virtual world and the ability to share our own stories to hundreds of thousands of people means that the art of storytelling has, in fact, flourished making storytelling easier than ever.
Animation Project 