Originally Posted by jamawani

What I miss?

Three or four cyclists sitting around a big table at Ernie's Birchwood Hostel in Missoula
poring over a map folded out all the way - taking up the entire tabletop.
Nowadays, it seems everyone is looking at their own phone screen.
Yes, you can discuss your options - as we do here on the forum,
but the shared activity - the physical, tactile portion is missing.

But wait, there's more -
Althought you can scroll and zoom in and out on a phone screen,
it is difficult to get the larger view - the whole tabletop.
Kinda like having to switch from the New Hampshire to the Maine atlas.
Was it also at Ernie's where he used two DeLorme Montana atlases -
And posted the entire state on the wall? So very low-tech.
But quite "big picture" in a way that phone screens simply can't do.

Technology does change the way we organize our thinking.
My formal writing is much more stream-of-consciousness nowadays.
I can toss out all my ideas on a screen - then arrange and edit later.
You couldn't do that with a typewriter - even with Correcta-Ribbon.

So - a final thought -
When enmeshed in the all the details that technology allows you,
keep in mind the larger picture.