Wednesday, January 28, 2009

How ICT Is Ruining My Life

When I decided to study writing in college, my parents initially tried to (subtly) dissuade me by asking how I felt about other options, like accountancy or (gasp) medicine. I somehow understood: there is no money in writing, unless you’re J.K. Rowling.

I finished the writing course, and still am broke. I realized belatedly that my parents had a point. But how is my sob story related to ICT? It isn’t, but J.K. Rowling is.

She’s made gazillions from Harry Potter. And probably more, if e-books weren’t invented. Now, you can just download books off the net, without shelling out any amount, save maybe for the P20 for each hour of internet at the netcafe.

Even some serious publications (such as law books) are on the internet now. Googlebooks and Amazon allow browsing through the pages of a certain book, enticing people to buy it (or just look for the pages they need, without buying).

So royalties that should be going to writers are now spent on just paying the electric bill, or maybe replacing a slow computer, but the bottom line is information is free now, more or less.

Egad. Now my parents have more reason to nag me about making stupid career choices.

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