The appeal of low tech

Clack, clack, ding! Typewriters return (full article here)

For a generation raised with technologies that can be outdated within months, there's something impressively permanent about a typewriter. And for those used to computers that operate often mysteriously and practically in silence, it's refreshing to use a machine with visible working parts. "It's similar to teens and 20-somethings choosing the hiss and pop of vinyl records over the clarity of mp3s," said Robert Thompson, a Syracuse University professor and popular-culture expert.

"A lot of young people who only experienced in their early youth these types of digital, totally electronic experiences find the tactile, analog stuff very appealing," said Thompson, noting that a couple of his students have submitted typed papers. Young people who choose typewriters "are very careful about what they do" when they write, he said. "It doesn't seem as disposable and casual."