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The Internet vs Literacy or The Internet = Literacy
As we progress into the digital age, we are seeing changes in multimedia use. Music, movies, and literature are all noticeably different compared to before when we didn’t have the magical wonders of the internet. But how is technology affecting all of this? Better yet, how is the internet affecting literature in America? Is the internet a place where our next generation can find good articles and pieces? Maybe the internet is making it easier for us to write simple blog entries and some serious papers. Or perhaps the internet is actually causing younger generations to have a shorter attention span to what they read and, on top of that, ruining the proficiency of the writing skills in young Americans.
Princeton’s definition of literacy is the ability to read and write. Dictionary.com states that literacy is the quality or state of being literate, especially the ability to read and write. What do these really mean though? In “America the Illiterate” Chris Hedges believes that being literate means that you should be able to read a mortgage document and understand every nick and crack inside of this (to me this makes no sense because if you gave this task to the majority of Americans, many would fail to fully comprehend it). I believe that literacy is the ability for people to be able to comprehend what they read and write in a professional tone of voice. When it comes to reading, I believe that America’s youth should easily be able to read the New York Times or CNN, and comprehend what the article is saying, and put back some input. Writing, on the other hand, is a different story. Literacy in writing should be the ability to compose documents such as an email, a short blog, or even an article that would be pertinent to many people. I do believe that it is important for the youth of America to be literate in today’s world. But does the internet affect our youth’s literacy?
Many people believe that the internet is causing our youth to become illiterate compared to previous decades. In the Princeton review of presidential election speeches, the grade level of the speeches decreased as the years grew closer and closer to present day. Chris Hedges explains that this is because the internet has caused us to become illiterate. In “Is Google Making Us Stupid” Nicholas Carr states that Google has made us lose the ability to read and comprehend long articles online. I do believe however, that these articles are slightly biased and do not take other things into consideration. When Hedges states that the presidential speeches have deteriorated in grade level, he fails to mention that this is long before the start of the internet. These speeches probably dropped in grade level because it would make more sense to appeal to more people (in the sense that more people could understand the speech). The reasoning behind why people do not understand longer articles could possibly be simply the fact that the reader has no interest in the article.
If the internet is not hindering America’s literacy rate, what is it doing? I do believe that the internet is actually improving our youth’s literacy rates in many different ways. With high speed internet being easily accessible to everyone, it is much easier to be constantly reading any article. My parents always said, “The more you read the smarter you’ll be.” I never understood why they said this until recently. I believe they said this because reading improves how fast and how well you interpret text. Since there is so much out there for students to read, their ability to interpret different text should be a lot better than those who don’t read a lot. But why should there be people that don’t read a lot? Since the internet is unrestricted to people with no educational background, low social status, or anything else there should be no reason that anyone doesn’t read an article or document a day.
Not only is the internet a place for us to read, but it is also a place where we can write. With the simple use of the internet anyone can publish anything they want on the web with a few simple clicks. Before the use of the internet, only the rich or those good enough could publish their writings for the general people. “Most Americans never wrote anything, ever, that wasn't a school assignment. Unless they got a job that required producing text (like in law, advertising, or media), they'd leave school and virtually never construct a paragraph again” (Thompson “New Literacy”). This would mean that more people would have less of an incentive to write those small articles that would only be read by a few people. Now, however, since it is so easy to publish online, many people will take a few extra minutes to post up what they want to say. People like me are examples of this. I write this article with the knowledge that I will be able to spread this to readers like you. Writing more in our daily lives is beneficial in the sense that we will be much better versed in what to say and how we want to express ourselves. Had it not been for the internet many of us would only be able to write personal narratives about ourselves or perhaps a research paper instead of good articles full of opinions and argument.
I do believe that we should integrate technology much more into younger generations to improve literacy rates. Today’s forms of writing seem very useless in daily practice. How are students really going to apply a letter to the reviewer in their future or even a research paper? Sure there will be some that will apply these pieces to their daily lives, but I would say only twenty percent at most would find it applicable to daily life. I believe that it would be much more important to teach the youth how to write a formal letter with the use of very eloquent words, or maybe even how to take good notes. Integration of the internet into studies can be done with many different activities. Teachers could use more communication between the students through email, blog assignments, or even have them write short articles in response to certain events.
Not only could the internet benefit students in their writing proficiencies but also in their reading proficiencies. With the speed of computers and the internet, when we get online our screen is full of different browsers and tabs, all simultaneously up with different information and text. “Then we do about six different things at the same time… we have our homework open…” (Bronwyn “Tomorrow Multiliteracies”). In Bronwyn T. Williams’s article, we see that the young technology-frenzied generation is accustomed to having multiple things going on which teaches multitasking skills. Throughout the week these students will read more words in one week online than in the class. Since students are already reading so much online why not have them write about what they read online? Incorporating technology into student life could never be so much easier.
There are many people that do oppose the integration of technology with school. In Betty J. Sternberg’s article “Technology in Classroom” the concern that students will begin using text terms (Ex; C U L8ER) instead of formal ways and also that incorporating emails into student activity opens them up to internet predators. However, what people who share the same opinion as Betty Sternberg should realize is that if teachers emphasize the fact that written text should be done in a formal manner, text language would not prevail. Many of the problems that people see can easily be fixed by constantly emphasizing to the students what should be expected from them and what they can and can’t do.
I believe that with the progression in technology and internet, younger generations will be more literate than compared to those before. The technology-based generation is now reading increasing amounts of text every day, even more than in classes. Online readings not only keep their minds interpreting harder and harder text but it also keeps them up to date with current events. Writing is also easier and more relevant to everyday use. All these are great reasons for our society to incorporate internet and technology into our school systems.
Work Cited
Williams, Bronwyns T. "Tomorrow will not be like today”: Literacy and identity in a world of multiliteracies." Literacy & Identity (May 2008): 682-86. Print.
Sternberg, Betty J. "Enhancing adolescent literacy achievement through integration of technology in the classroom." ProQuest. Web.
Carr, Nicholas. “Is Google Making Us Stupid? - The Atlantic (July/August 2008).” 26 Sep 2009.
Thompson, Clive. “The New Literacy” 24 Aug, 2009.
Hedges, Chris. “America the Illiterate.” 26 Sep 2009.
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