Is the pen really mightier than the keyboard? Does it rival its fierce foe of artificial intelligence or was it destined to leave us in all of its glory? Throughout the course of North Atlanta’s 2020-2021 school year, students began to grow accustomed to the incessant staring at their digital screens. Since returning from our exile, however, the transition back into school still follows the same reality — gaping endlessly at screens in our classrooms. 

This new change means that we are back to participating only by digital means, which was not the way school was before the infamous COVID-19 pandemic. Following our reinstatement to the building, students and teachers have disputed over the obvious shift in teaching and learning platforms. 

Sophomore Brooke Robinson is one who has not really noticed the decline of writing in her school environment over the years. While the use of computers over handwritten notes has skyrocketed, not everyone has noticed the shift. “I can vaguely remember having only written work in elementary school, but as far as the transition it’s not something that has stood out to me,” Robinson said.

Meanwhile, sophomore Janie Heller chipped in and said that after returning to school, it has felt like everything we do is now digitally based. After a year and a half of remote school, Heller is one of the many students that are ready to return to some sense of normalcy. To her dismay, however, she has been doing plenty of computer based work in almost all of her classes. “Coming back from school and still having to stare at our computer all day is pretty confusing,” Heller said. “I definitely thought coming back would mean a return to a normal environment.”

Maybe you have noticed the conversion and the conspicuous lack of taking notes in class, or maybe you have not. Nonetheless, the irrefutable fact is that everything around us is changing, whether it be our school environment or our surroundings. It can not be decided whether the change was good or bad, but the move may instill a sense of progress and show how our future is undeniably going to be based around computers.