21st Century Writing

Technology seems to be increasingly changing, remolding, reshaping, etc. the way in which we receive our news, talk to other people, and fare following an automobile accident (thanks airbags and ABS...we almost avoided the Subaru!). It is so much apart of our lives that we fail to stop and think of the changes that have taken place over the past century in the ways that we carry out so many daily, seemingly mundane tasks.
Today in class my students were asked to begin brainstorming the role of writing in the 21st Century. The students were asked to answer certain questions such as: "Why do people write?"; "What do people write?"; "Where do people write?"; "How do people write?"; etc. We discussed the changes in technology over the past 100 years, and how the answers to these questions would have been quite different in 1909.
The discussion became quite lively and entertaining. Listening to the students perceptions of what writing used to be, and what it is today, was quite intriguing. I discussed the controversy of the introduction of the "modern pencil" to the classroom. We also talked about the transformation of the written word from one that is transcribed manually to one that is transmitted to a digital format by the the slightest application of force from our fingertip.
The students realized that they are writing much more than they realized. We discussed the differences between formal and informal writing, and how they are doing much more writing as a whole than the students of 1909. They, and I more so, were impressed.
The readings and discussions pertaining to the evolution of writing have really gotten me thinking about how to better embrace technology in the classroom and to foster both the formal and informal writing in my students. I realize that I need to "take on" new technologies at school to better prepare my students to be writers, and citizens, of the 21st Century and beyond.