These days, it
is getting harder for me to compartmentalize my time as my attention is somewhat terribly divided. I had a sense of relief when I recently quitted one whats app
group as I found the exchanges very distracting though I was not obliged to read nor respond to anyone of the videos and photos that had been posted. Technology requires us to multitask even
if we are not willing to conform. Apart from texts and emails which I
personally have to respond to, I have to pay more attention to the work that is
done by the staff as everyone is so
distracted by their whats app, facebook and text messages so much so that seemingly nobody is
paying full attention to their tasks at hand. Being competent is not one aspires
to be. Everyone is distracted, anywhere but what they are supposed to be
attending to. Quite often the attitude is to get by and the attention span is brief.
In legal
practice, though we are still unable to do away with printed copies for record
purposes, we try to minimize wastage by working electronically on agreements
and various documents and only print them out when they are finalised. Till this date, I still prefer to read the
printed texts and not the online versions. Even though I have books
downloaded on my iPad, I still prefer to read printed books. We have to find a
way to strike a balance between digital texts and printed ones while embracing
technology. Il faut trouver un équilibre entre tradition et innovation.
Last week I dropped by one of the local bookshops to pick
up a book as a birthday gift for a friend and I stumbled upon the novel Techbitch by Lucy
Sykes and Jo
Piazza. I was hooked from its prologue.
Every so often , I need one of these feel good stories as it is comforting to
know that ultimately good persons will triumph over the evil ones. I used to
purchase fashion magazines namely Vogue, US, UK or Australian editions as they
were my guilty pleasures just as much as chick lits about women who work in
fashion media industry. So voila, a novel about
fictional characters working in a
fashion magazine in a digital age is bound to take me on a delightful ride. And it does.
Techbitch is all about the technological
revolution. Imogen Tate, the editor-in-chief of Glossy magazine , aged 42 returns to
work after her hiatus only to find that her former assistant, Eve Morton who is
now a graduate from Harvard Business School has been engaged to convert the
magazine into an app. Eve is ruthless on the borderline of a sociopath . Imogen has worked hard to get to where she is , a reputable
and successful editor and she is also a happily married woman and mother of two
young children whom she adores. She is determined to learn all about tweeting
and instagramming to keep up with the rapidly- changing world of tech with
google glass already popularized and she refuses to let the twenty- somethings
who do not acknowledge her presence
break her .
‘Imogen was barely on Facebook
and had signed onto that only because the kids’ schools used it for all of
their PTA updates ( important news about early dismissals, fund- raisers and
wear –green –to – school days) and to keep an eye on Annabel now that her
daughter was growing more and more distant and mature.
That reminds me
of how I first created a facebook account years ago when my younger daughter was going on
a student exchange AFS programme in France so I could see her updates when she was busy having fun.
Although I am not in the fashion media industry, I can relate to how the protagonist Imogen Tate has to adapt to the age of technology.
Despite the urgency to re-invent fashion media to attract the young readers,
ultimately Imogen’s experience, talent and dedication to the magazine prove to be invaluable and Eve’s
go-getter and social climbing style without manners is crass. The story is funny and sassy, a
wonderful read indeed.