Digital Media Effects on Conventional Reading and Writing Practice

“I see a student who can get across a complex idea in 140 characters or less [on Twitter] and I see versatility,” she says. “I’m not one of the hand wringers.”

Writing is a tough subject for everyone. There is so many ways we can convey our thoughts and ideas to people. The fact that we do not teach handwriting or cursive in school is an indication that we are going to digital forms of communication.  It is much easier for me to send a text to my co-teacher than to wait until 7^th period. Information is instantaneous. I love the Twitter quote because I have been on Twitter longer than Facebook or Instagram. I thought it was such a neat way to express yourself without the added garbage of ads popping up. As I read through my timeline, I do see complex ideas and feelings. I agree with Josh Karp’s assessment in that writing hasn’t changed over the last century. The only fault I find with texting or Twitter is that it can be void of emotion. It is hard for me to get a handle on my son’s emotional health through texting. It has been a life-saver though as he does not have great phone reception where he lives. There are emoticons but I can put a smiley face after everything I write and still be mad or sad. Sarcasm is another issue when texting. Different people can text me the same exact phrase and depending on the person, I have to discern whether or not they are being sarcastic or sincere.

The question of how to value different kinds of reading is complicated because people read for many reasons. There is the level required of daily life — to follow the instructions in a manual or to analyze a mortgage contract. Then there is a more sophisticated level that opens the doors to elite education and professions. And, of course, people read for entertainment, as well as for intellectual or emotional rewards.

Just looking at the picture of the family at the beginning of the article shows us how different our world has become. When I was a child, my mother had her books, my dad read magazines, and my sisters and I read whatever we wanted. The difference is that we read alone for peace and solitude. This family is portraying ‘family time’ yet it isn’t much different than my own home. My daughter reads 2 novels every week and her reasoning is: “you have to practice reading just like you would math. The more you practice, the easier it becomes”. She has proved this to me in the fact that it doesn’t matter if she is reading Divergent or if she is reading The Physiological Methods of Neurosurgery; she understands and comprehends both books the same way. I could not do that (she  has a photographic memory and an IQ of 143 so she really isn’t typical) even though I read extensively. My son would rather skim the Internet or watch videos about racing.  Is her reading more valuable because of the content? Not really as she is in the medical field and that is where her interests lie whereas my son is reading motorcycle articles that pertains to his life.

I think that I am more like John McWhorter in that we need to evolve with what is presenting itself to us. The more ways that information is received by children, the better. Snapchat is almost taking words away completely and one talks to another just through pictures. I find that it takes creative thinking skills to be able to send an image and have that picture say something meaningful. The old saying “A picture is worth a thousand words” is really coming true.

Karp, J. (2010, January 26). Does Digital Media Make Us Bad Writers? | Spotlight on Digital Media and Learning. Does Digital Media Make Us Bad Writers? Retrieved May 23, 2014, from http://spotlight.macfound.org/featured-stories/entry/does-digital-media-make-us-bad-writers

 Rich, M. (2008, July 26). Literacy Debate: Online, R U Really Reading? The New York Times. Retrieved May 23, 2014, from http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/27/books/27reading.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

(20142013). TEDTalks : Films Media Group.