“Shitty First Drafts”
Read “Shitty First Drafts” in your Language Awareness book. Answer the critical thinking questions from 1 to 7
the pages you need to read 189-190-191-192
Observation of stars
David Carr is a journalist and author who writes about media and culture ‘ I But even more remarkably, once the badge-decorated horde spilled 5
for the New Tor}: Times. He was born and raised in 1956 in Hopkins, l l into the halls or went to the hundreds of parties that mark the ritual,
ii Miimcsoii where he attended grade school and high school. Later, he i almost everyone walked or talked with one eve, or both, on a little screen.
I ,i‘ 1, 7 6
ll’ attended the University ofWisconsin-River Falls and ‘thenthe University : were adiacent but essentially alone, texting and talking our way
ll? I‘ ofMinnesota, all the while working at odd jobs to pay for his education. In i thiough what should have been agreat chance to engage fIesh-and-blood
ii ll all as he piititin an interview foraseries about unconventional educations, human beings. The wait in line for panels, badges, or food became one
I C 3 – ‘ ‘ . ‘ ‘ ‘ . . . . u
I‘ l ‘ ‘ ‘ r= – . t throu rli colle e. Carr IS the former editor ‘ more chance to check in digitally instead of an opportunity to meet some-
l li It took him Seuii ‘Wars to gc E ~ g . . – ,. -kl i Was/r one iou didn’t know
i ‘ ‘. of the Twin Cities R€lZfl’L’7’, and he wrote for the altcrnatixc cc ) V I 3
9 ‘ii iniqton City Paper, the Atlantic Mimtlaly, and New Tori: Mryyazine before I moderated”a panel there called. “I’m So Productive, I Ilever Get
‘l moving to the Times. In addition to being one of the writers featured : Anything Done, which was ostensibly about how answering e-mail
l in Page One: Insiiie the New Tor}: Times, a documentary about how and i J and looking after various avatars on Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr left
l why the Ngw Tori: Times wouldn’t relinquish its esteemed position in the . little time to do what we actually care about or get paid for. The biggest
i jouirnalistic world to Facebook and Twitter, Carr is the author ofthe best-‘ I reaction in the session by far came when Anthony De Rosa, aproduct
E i selling memoir The Niiilit ()ft/JL’ Gim. In the book he recounts the storvof . manager and programmer at Reuters and a big presence on Twitter and
ii if his Own cocdiiic addiction by interviewing the people he(§iss(l:ci;;<ted with i Tumtblr, said that mobile connectedness has eroded fundamental human
mer, cour esies.
i during that period of his lifc. In his l€1€W of thc memoir, or y ‘um ,5
I his former editor at the Atlantic, referred to Carr’s “ioyous peculiarity. i When people are out and they re among other people they need to
I” ii In “Keep Your Thumbs Still When I’m Talking to You,” which xx as ]llSt put eveiything down, hc said‘. “It s fine when you rc at home or at
to ea‘h oth*r ba‘k.”
A our digital age ‘ has madc it fashionablc to bc rudc. IE1. K d B 1 t dd d
is wor s rougi su en an 5
I ‘ ‘ 0 ’4″
WRITING To DISCOVER. When someone you are conversing with aigsfie ‘ tumiiiiiioiis applause. it was sort Oi Add one more achievement
ow
i a call or takes out a phone to make a call, what has. been your response J a iiioiiitiit, givui that “C wag ‘Sitting to the dlgltal revomtlom It has
did you feel? Unimportant? Understanding, especially if there might be an emer- amid some of the most digimiiy d _tf h_ bl t b d
7H I . . maei asiona eo eru e.
f gency? Angry or disgusted when you realized the call was trivial chit-chat. ave you .: devoted peoplc in the hemisphere.
changed the way you react to such situations over time? Perhgps solinzwllilere on the way tcla. the inlergerkclif the online and offline
2 wor , we a a stepped across a ine wit out owing it.
to vou. Yes, she is murmuring occasional assent to your‘ rcmarks, oi nod aside to chcck something, butv hcn I m standing infront of someone and
ding at appropriate junctures but for the most part she is looking beyond in the middle of my conversation they whip out their phone, I ll just stop
i Voii, scanning in search of something or someonc morchconlicpelling. Om J t(l)( thcm and walk away, If they re going to be rudc, I ll be rude
Here’s the funny part. If shc is looking ox eryour s ou er at a l_ g Af g
i full of potentially more interesting people, she is ilI-mannered. If,.how- ter thc panel, onc of the youngei peoplc in the audience came 10
ii ever she is not looking over vour shoulder, but into a smartphone in her up to me to talk earnestly about the importance of actual connec-
i hand, shc is not only Wei] within modem SOC1al norms, but is also a 1rcd, E tion, vi hich was nice, c.cept hc was casting sidclong glances ‘at his
L we“_Put_tOgCthCr person g iPhone while we talked. I’m not even sure he knew he was doing it.
l Add one more achievement to the digital revolution: It has made it It s not iust confercnces full of inforati w hcre this happcns. In places
i fashionable to be rudc. L all over America (theaters, sports arenas, apartments), people gather
I thought about that a lot at South by Southwest Interactive, the ‘. In groups only to disperse into lone pursuits between themselves and
F annual campfire ofthe digitally interested held in Austin, Tex., the second their phones.
