While on the one hand the digital revolution is bringing a whole new range of access to information, it is also killing nostalgia and stopping us from peering behind ideas of great thinkers.

Having discovered a great writer, one my great pleasures is reading his or her letters. The writings give human qualities to the writer, allow us to see drafts and give perspective that is no longer possible in the digital era.

For a writer working today, the work of sifting through a writer's gmail box in search of the important gems seems too implausible and fruitless. Lost is the pleasure of seeing a great artist's handwriting in a letter. (I have a friend who collects signed letters from composers. They offer a window to the past that feels so much more concrete than an email).

By allowing instant iteration and quick editing, writers are now less likely to be able to deliver a draft version in the old sense. The legacy of writers will no longer include the famed alternate ending. Instead, you will have Word Document version 65 of Chapter 15.

In terms of nostalgia, gone are the days when we can find a crumpled old Paris metro pass, as did Rafi Haladjian, a Paris-based entrepreneur who created an odd Wifi rabbit. The new Paris Metro passes, known as the Navigo, are unlikely to become an object of fetish.

As paper surrenders to silicon, future generations will no longer have the pleasure of digging their past incarnations from a forgotten drawer.

Oddly, even as the digital era keeps the past present (you remain in perpetual contact with all your high school friends), digital also kills the pleasure of reminiscence at leisure and involuntary memory.

What would Proust say?

Technorati Tags: proust, social media