I am writing this essay to people who don’t like change;
people who are stuck in their ways and like it there. I’m talking about people
who approach the internet with caution and worry about how it is changing the
way we do things. They aren’t necessarily young or old but possibly a little
stubborn. I feel like this is a good audience for me because I am one of these
people; I know their concerns because they are in the back of my head as well. The
difference is that now I have been turned on to the benefits of the internet (some
of them at least). Who better to address their fears? I’ll discuss the changes,
the issues they bring up, and their benefits to tailor my essay to this
audience.
The internet and its
effect on literacy
A few months ago, Coca-Cola began packaging regular Coke
in white cans as part of a campaign to save the polar bears. I doubt they
anticipated the uproar this one small change would cause. Consumers were
confused when they didn’t see the indicative red cans in stores. Some jumped
straight to the conclusion that all Coke products were now diet. The mistake
was clarified but people still swore that the Coke in the white cans tasted
different. Complaints were made and the cans went back to red (Goddard). It’s a
comfortable thing always knowing what to expect. When change comes it can throw
those of us who are a little stubborn and not willing to accept it. We look at
change and see its negative effects; how it will force us to alter our routine.
And when that change is bigger than Coke coming in a different colored can, we
push back with even more opposition.
Literacy is changing; the internet has changed it. When
I was in high school I had my own personal battle with the internet. You see, I
became editor-in-chief of my school’s newspaper at the same time the school
hired a new journalism advisor. She was an advocate for new media and declared
our main focus would be online journalism. And so it began. I had dedicated
three years to learning everything about AP style, InDesign, and the correct
width for a column margin and wasn’t about to let that go. I wasn’t going to
sacrifice the satisfaction of cutting the binds on a fresh stack of newspaper just
so we could join the revolution in journalistic media. I had plans to go into
print journalism but all around me I saw newspapers failing or jumping online. I
did what I could to fight it at school, and the internet and I never
reconciled. The fact is the internet is changing the way we read and write.
There is discussion in today’s society over whether this change is a good or
bad one. There is no doubt the internet has affected literacy, the question is
how?
Should we listen to the critics who say the World Wide
Web is shortening our attention span and mutilating language? Has the internet
fried our brains? Or do we embrace the other side and view the internet as a
place of endless possibilities to connect and share ideas? Maybe the internet is
actually enriching the way people read and write. In beginning the discussion
of the internet and its effect on literacy, it is important to consider what
literacy really means.
Literacy has many facets. Though many may define it
simply as the ability to read and write, I believe literacy also encompasses
what occurs when these skills are put to use, the knowledge that is gained and
the ideas that are shared. Sylvia
Scribner thought of literacy as a more complex being and attempted to define it
as three different parts. The first was “literacy as adaption,” or the
fundamental skills you need to perform everyday tasks (Scribner, 9). This can
involve anything from reading a street sign to writing a paper. Has the
internet affected our ability to do such things? In a study overseen by
Stanford professor Andrea Lunsford, the findings were that it has not. The
study looked at the quality of students’ written work to see if it had changed
or diminished. It was found that shortened speech and texting slang never
showed up in academic papers and that students excelled at tailoring work to
their audience. When first looking at samples of work, Lunsford found that her
students “were increasingly aware of those to whom they were writing and
adjusted their writing styles to suit the occasion and the audience (Lunsford).”
This seems a natural outcome. Just because students use a modified language
when emailing or texting doesn’t mean it will rub off on their formal work.
Thus, it follows that students can identify these different situations and
alter their prose accordingly. I know not to fill this essay with smiley faces
just as I am conscience of the difference in my tone when I email a friend or
college professor. With the multiplying number of places to write something
down, we are becoming better at identifying the right style to use.
The internet hasn’t affected our basic skills of reading
and writing. There are still plenty of words to be found online, so until it
becomes a picture book, I think reading is safe. As for writing, I would
venture to say that we are exercising this skill more and more. Most likely, a
majority of things people used to write were for academic or work related
purposes. Now, with the help of the internet, people are writing all the time. Writing
has become integral to the way we socialize; we text, email, and update our
Facebook statuses, not to mention writing longer compositions on blogs.
Another way Scribner defines literacy is the way it
brings value to the person who is literate; she calls it “literacy as a state
of grace (13).” I interpret this as the general knowledge and intelligence one
gains as an active reader and writer. The question here is not can we read and
write, but how? When reading and writing, are we getting as much from the
experience as we did before the internet? The internet thrives on how often you
click; the more things you look at the more advertisers can make. With this
principle in place, the internet is very good at providing short articles full
of links to blurbs that have links to captions, all of which are surrounded by
linked pictures and ads. On a typical Wikipedia page almost every sentence
contains a telltale blue word that is ready to whisk you away. And where links
aren’t present, content is shortened to keep you moving. The Internet allows us
to skim, flitting from one topic to the next, never staying long on one page.
Are these habits affecting our attention span? It’s reasonable to think that
they would. Nicholas Carr suggested that the internet can change the way you
think. Reading, unlike speech, is a learned skill and as such the brain can
possibly be rewired to read differently. A habit like continually jumping
around online can potentially weaken your ability to focus for long periods of
time (Carr). This means reading a book could become a chore. Now this is
troubling.
First hand, I have experienced Carr’s concerns. For a
college class I was assigned weekly readings, articles that were usually three
to five pages in length. One week, I opened the document to find 19 pages
waiting for me. It was terrible and I could barely get through it. Now,
normally 19 pages would be nothing; I read at least four times that each night
before I go to bed. The difference was I wasn’t expecting it; in relation to
the other readings it was a novel. Does this mean my brain has been affected?
No, I don’t think so. I still read books and can stay focused for long periods
of time; although I can’t say I spend much time reading online anyway. There
may be truth to Carr’s concern. The internet’s tendency to facilitate instant
gratification could be affecting our attention span. Our minds are possibly
being conditioned to expect something new each moment. “If we lose those quiet
spaces, or fill them up with ‘content’” will we be able to think logically and
make the connections to reason through problems (Carr)? Will we still be able
to read books?
The final
question of literacy to explore is why do we read and write? The internet has
affected this answer as well. We interact online to connect to our culture.
There are news articles to read, twitter feeds to check, and the latest popular
YouTube video to watch. Stay offline for an entire day and you may not know
what anyone is talking about in the morning. The internet is a source of social
capital. It’s not all entertainment either; bloggers have made their splash in
the ocean society surfs daily. Aside from actual media websites, blogs are the
largest source of writing. Blogs are the newest form of prose and owe their
existence to the internet. A blog creates a conversation; as the author posts,
readers can produce immediate feedback and the process repeats itself.
Corrections, arguments, and new sources get the conversation rolling. This
interaction between author and reader generates an informed blog; under the scrutiny
of readers, no mistake goes unnoticed. Also, by linking directly to other
pages, authors can prove the legitimacy of their information, that’s something
a research paper can’t do (Sullivan). People are increasingly writing and
reading online to connect and share ideas.
Is the internet narrowing the scope of writing in the
future? Will books and newspapers be replaced by the blogosphere? The answer is
no. The internet isn’t here to replace traditional writing, but aid it
(Sullivan). Blogs and other online sources provide a pool of inspiration for
the more serious writer to draw from. They provide the foundation of ideas and
information that books and essays and news are born from. The internet skims
the surface so that others can go in-depth.
In his book on writing, Joseph Harris advises the reader
to consider how interesting a composition is when evaluating it. What topical
interest has the author added to the subject discussed? What interest does the
author have in the subject? Has the author presented the subject in an
interesting way (Harris, 11-12)? The first
two questions allude to the message while the last suggests the medium. You can
paint a portrait or take someone’s picture and the person in them will be the
same. The invention of the camera didn’t change the subject matter; it just
presented it in a new way. Similarly, the internet is not replacing old styles
of writing; it’s just a new medium to speak through. The key will be knowing
when to use it; “the message dictates the medium. And each medium has its
place…(Sullivan)”
I still never read many articles online and print
journalism will always have a special place in my heart. I cringe whenever Facebook
comes out with an update and I refuse to change to Timeline until forced to. I
love books and hate to think that because of the Kindle Borders went bankrupt.
But who knows, I may come around. Let’s not get caught up in the way
information is given to us; printed or posted, red or white, the substance
stays the same. You can focus your energy on fighting a white Coke can or you
can realize that the polar bears need help. Every person has their preferences,
their likes and dislikes, but the internet’s possibilities will outweigh these
prejudices every time.
Carr, Nicholas. "Is Google Making Us
Stupid?" The Atlantic July-Aug. 2008. The Atlantic. Web. 27 Jan.
2012.
Goddard, Jacqui. "Coca Cola Drops 'polar Bear' Cans Because
Consumers Prefer to See Red." The
Telegraph. 3 Dec. 2011. Web. 4 Feb. 2012.
Harris, Joseph. "Introduction." Rewriting.
Logan, Utah: Utah State UP, 2006. 1-12. Print.
Lunsford, Andrea A. Our Semi-literate Youth? Not
So Fast. Stanford Study of Writing. Web. 27 Jan. 2012.
Scribner, Sylvia. "Literacy in Three
Metaphors." American Journal of Education 93 (1984): 6-21. Print.
Sullivan, Andrew. "Why I Blog." The
Atlantic Nov. 2008. The Atlantic. Web. 27 Jan. 2012.
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