The “cathedral-like” people of our society, with strong and driven minds of etched pillars, may soon be lost as technology advances. I think that Carr’s fear of us becoming “pancake people” is very real, and something that I also have seen and felt. Not only in my schoolwork, but also in my day-to-day life. I don’t think that anyone wants to become a “pancake person”, but in a world where technology and the internet is available at everyone’s fingertips, it feels as though it’s almost inevitable. The internet has given us shortcuts as people, which slowly chip away at these pillars that we have put up as “cathedral-like” people.

              I’ve found that in my writing, I almost become a “pancake person” when I’m using my computer to write instead of a pencil and paper. While both a pencil and my laptop are pieces of technology, I find that using my laptop makes my writing feel flatter. I have to put so much more thought into my writing when I do it by hand, which makes it feel more authentic. When I’m writing by hand, everything flows out of my mind and onto the paper so easily. I feel so connected to my work when I can reach out and feel the indents that my pencil made on the paper. Writing on my laptop just doesn’t give me that same satisfaction. It makes my writing feel like a chore instead of an experience. I take a lot of pride in the work that I create, and my favorite part of my work is the experience and the journey I go through with it.

              Having access to any information, the answer to any question, the findings of any study right at our fingertips is a lot of responsibility to put on anyone. While it can be extremely helpful to have all of your questions answered, it’s also incredibly dreadful. You have access to all of the good, but also all of the bad that lies within the internet, and in the world as a whole. In a way, having access to anything at any given time takes away from the human experience. It leads people to worry about what could happen, instead of living in the moment. I don’t think that everyone is meant to know the answers to everything, because we become much more thorough and layered people when we apply what we already know to situations. Having to think about something, rather than just being able to look It up, is something that I would have never thought that I would have come to appreciate as much as I do now. The shortcuts that technology and the internet have granted us have made us less informed and thoughtful individuals, since we don’t have to put so much thought into what we do. We’ve become lazy as people, and it’s begun to affect the standards that we hold ourselves to. With the emergence of AI like ChatGPT, we don’t have to put any thought into our work. Instead, we can rely on technology to do the thinking for us, which is where those cathedral pillars really begin to collapse.

              I think that technology has also influenced my relationships with other people and has caused me to feel a lot more disconnected with others. With the emergence and advancements of social media and the internet, communication over the internet has also become a lot more advanced and widely used. I find that the more I talk to people online, the harder it becomes to talk to people face-to-face.