Without the invention of the printing press, education for the masses would have been unavailable to the common man. Prior to the Renaissance period, literacy was only offered to noblemen who were preparing themselves for a career in the church. The spread of the renaissance culture lead to more schools and created a high demand for mass reproduction of the written word. In our lecture we discussed progression where these technological innovations are developed to meet consumer demands to improve quality of life (Jackson, 2012). With the introduction of the printing press to the public more people were being educated, improving their quality of life and making way for the huge advancements for print to come.
With every new innovation comes controversy. Religious leaders were afraid that society would make religious text less treasured when it would become available to the them.
Since the printing press, information has become more accessible with the use of e-books and the internet. Society has become more concerned with convenience rather than the quality of the text. Studies have shown that subjects that were given online articles scan the text and process them out of sequence (Rosen, 2012, p.5). The author goes on to state “that’s how users read your precious content”(p.5).
Innovations are there to improve quality of life, but should content really be tapered for