I want to talk about Digital Media. One thing we know for sure is that this world is evolving at neck-breaking speed. Trends and technological breakthroughs dominate our lives like a giant magical creature that we have no control over. 90% of us who participate in this environment feel overwhelmed and underperforming. Soon we will spend all of our times learning new strategies to deal with new trends using new tools but the sad truth is that we will not keep up.

The fact is our brains have limits. Our mental capacities are not infinite. Our lives have boundaries. On the other hand, the virtual world can grow exponentially almost indefinitely. I do not have a solution to this challenge. Today I only want to talk about some unfathomable observations in light of this.

A couple of months ago I heard a friend is taking an architecture course at a college. “Oh great, which software are you using?” “Software, oh no, we are using pencils.” Pencil? Pencil! I couldn’t believe my ears. Who draws architectural drawings with pencil anymore? I graduated from University of Waterloo ages ago, and our Mechanical Engineering class was the very last class to be drawing with pencils. It is like trying to light the solid rocket booster for Apollo missions with a match.

In today’s age you have a decision to make: get with it or don’t. You either get on board with the tech train and hold on as best as you can or take the scenic route and stay away from the high road altogether. What you should not do is wasting your time with antiquated, outdated, obsolete, useless tools and methods. It is no different from a fanatic Samurai charging at a fully armed Tiger Tank. Pencil architectural drawings have a place in art and science museums or private collections, but it is not some thing one should start learning in order to stay competitive in the architectural design world. The skill is not transferable!

In closing I would like to say that because our time and resources are limited we must choose wisely what we learn each day. The skills we acquire should be transferable and sustainable. In ten years, twenty years, even thirty years can we still see this skill benefiting us and the world around us?

My friend got bored with that course after a few weeks and dropped out. Good riddance, I say.

As always, I appreciate your thoughts. Please leave a comment below.

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Published by ZEN WANG

Nuclear Project Engineer turned Filmmaker. View all posts by ZEN WANG