What are we becoming?

Nicole Eldridge

Eric Leake

Extended Essay #1

What Are We Becoming?

This is essay is for the youngest, Western generation of today, who has never gotten the opportunity to live in a society where technology did not transcend onto virtually every aspect of their routine, daily life. Reading and writing can now all be done through a computer, whereas my generation still had the chance to live in a society in which technology was still developing and had not fully taken over such aspects of daily life. Essentially, my generation was one of the last to have something to compare this age of revolutionary, instant technology because we formed part of the transition from the old age of technology to the new age of technology. If our younger generations are not taught the difference, this could potentially harm our society and its ability for intellectual thinking. As long as they become informed, society can move forward, using this incredible amount of technology to their advantage.       

I fondly remember the days when I would anxiously await the Sunday newspaper, so I could read the cartoons and try to practice an elevated level of reading by trying to read through the fascinating news articles. At this time, I was about seven years old; reading the newspaper was a simple pleasure for a little girl like me, who wanted to imitate her father. After I was done reading, I would skim the sections of the newspaper and I would end up trying to figure out movie schedules at different theaters. While I looked for movie times, my father was figuring out the end results for different sports games. Whether it was college ball or professional level, my father enjoyed reading the sports articles and statistics. Later on, I enjoyed getting on the computer to try and play a poorly made computer game called “Minesweeper”. If I had any homework and wanted to look up information online, I would have to use the dial up chord, and it would take what seemed to be an eternity’s worth of time listening to strange, extraterrestrial-like noises come out of the bulky computer.  Instead, I would go to the library and check out a million books to gather my research from. The process would take a while because I had to filter out lots of information, but in the end I would come up with a fabulous amount of information and sources. During my free time, besides playing with Barbie dolls, Pokémon cards, and my yellow Gameboy Color, I loved reading books; this was also to attain lots of AR (accelerated reading) points at my school and keep my top score in the classroom. As I write this description of my childhood habits, I am shockingly surprised by how different contemporary society is. If one thinks about it, it has not even been a decade since technology dramatically changed.

Now, you as a younger generation might be a bit confused that only 10 years back people led the lifestyle that I describe to you in the paragraph above. Let me guess, you have never read the newspaper? To you, the newspaper is just that rolled up wad of grey papers sitting in your recycling been…untouched. You did not even know there were cartoon comics in one of the sections. On the real, you probably do not read cartoons anyways…unless you are some sort of a geek. In all honesty, who even checks the newspaper for movie theater schedules or sports statistics? That is such a “grandpa” habit. Just Google your inquiry and the information is instantly available, this way you do not even have to wait for the “newspaper boy” to come and do his rounds. Maybe you thought, “what the heck is Minesweeper, there thousands of other online games, and plus I have a Wii or an Xbox; I do not really need computer games.” These days, you have probably never been exposed to dial-up Internet; how strange and awful does it sound to have to call an Internet service via computer and listen to alien-like sounds until your Internet is connected. Plus, dial-up Internet is about 15 times slower than you would be used to (I am not going to lie, dial-up internet would be living torture for you high speed internet pros). Not to mention, the computer would not have been a sleek, flat screen, but a bulky machine. Also, unless your teacher makes you go to check out a book in the library, or you are one of those kids who is a bookworm, you probably never stop by the library for fun. Certainly, you never stop by the library to do research when Google and Wikipedia are all you need. And I am positive that you get your research done extremely quickly, because you type a lot faster than I did at your age. Consider your generation a fortunate bunch; you have all of the perks in the world and life is made easier and more efficient.  But do not let that make you become too lazy to independently function, especially when it comes to your reading and writing habits.  Young generations, even mine, are being looked down upon for their reliance on the Internet and technology. Honestly, this age has its positive and negative consequences on reading and writing habits, and I believe that as long as they are addressed, society can continue to use technology to their advantage without letting it supplement human intelligence and capacity.

            According to Andrew Sullivan, online writing has brought society many beneficial advantages to the writing world. Blogging is an extremely popular form of online writing, one that Sullivan strongly advocates. Before, if one wanted to instantly write their thoughts on a subject, pen, paper, and a limited to non-existent audience would have to suffice. Only if one was a published author or in a journalistic profession, would a piece of writing reach a larger audience. Yet with blogging, we can publish our instant thought to a vast audience without being a journalist, one we cannot even fathom. “We blog now—as news reaches us, as facts emerge . . . it is, in many ways, writing out loud” (Sullivan 2). Indeed, this is privilege that the technology of the 21^st century has granted us; to be able to express our thoughts instantly to an audience other than ourselves, makes us more proud of our work. Furthermore, the criticism given to us helps us build and better our writing skills. With all of the Facebook, Twitter, and texting controversies, younger generations must prove their abilities as writers more than ever before. Much criticism is generated towards the era of social networking and chatting, because it is said to diminish our capacity to create intellectual, grammatically correct pieces of writing. In a world where “lol” has substituted laughing and there is an abbreviation for almost anything, there is a reason to be skeptical about a young person’s writing skills. As a younger generation, one must remember the importance of maintaining an educated status when it comes to writing. Older generations wrote beautifully and eloquently written pieces of literature, and as a younger generation we must strive to keep the eloquence and art of writing alive in our own works. Because of the fact that we are quickly granted access to various sorts of literature, I believe we have the capability to preserve and continue an elevated form or writing. As Clive Thompson’s article “Clive Thompson on the New Literacy” states, “young people today write far more than any other generation before them . . . because so much socializing takes place online, and it almost always involves text . . .out of the classroom–life writing” (Thompson 1).  Thompson said that Professor Lunsford did a writing study with her students at Harvard, “When Lunsford examined the work of first-year students, she didn’t find a single example of texting speak in an academic paper” (Thompson 2). Personally, I believe this to be a crucial part of writing today. As long as younger generations do not confuse “text talk” with “school talk”, generations can continue to move forward with their writing abilities. If a person can differentiate the level of academic writing that is required depending on an audience, and has the educated capacity to do so, I believe that young writers will continue to preserve an excellent level of writing. So far, I think our generations have been doing so; I have been personally impressed by the level of writing exerted by my college peers and believe that generations to come will be able to continue along the same footsteps.

            Nonetheless, although the Internet has its benefits, it also has disadvantageous effects on our technology-crazed society. In all sincerity, all generations have their pros and cons; people always find something to criticize and compare to.  For example, Nicholas Carr’s article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid”, states that readers have begun to struggle with lengthy texts. Carr addresses people who use the Internet and computer technology and says, “the more they use the Web, the more they have to fight to stay focused on long pieces of writing” (Carr 2). The habit of “power reading” or skimming through text has affected our ability to read, or concentrate while reading deep, profound texts. Honestly, I completely agree, the distractions that come with technology (i.e. Facebook) truly do affect our ability to stay focused. Is there anything we can do to fix this? Well, although trying to ignore the calls of the Facebook notifications and text messages, sometimes it seems virtually impossible. Chris Hedges’ article, “America the Illiterate”, demonstrates the extremist, hateful point of view that some people have on modern day society. He states, “we have moved from a print based society to an image based society” (Hedges 3). Although I do not agree with this perspective, I understand where this point of view is coming from. When one looks at a magazine, one is immediately drawn to the images, one skims the images of news headlines, and one is drawn to the images on advertisements the list goes on. It is true; one does not take the time to fully read the rest of a text if there is an image to sum it up. Moreover, Nicholas Carr believes that the age of the Internet has become an age where “artificial intelligence” is replacing “human intelligence”. Artificial intelligence is seen as the computer, the Internet, etc. which according to Carr can replace human thinking. Never. Humans must learn to intelligently use the Internet and computer in order to be productive with the technology. Yes, societies with Internet access have definitely become lazier, but never less intelligent; the human brain is the most amazing tool that we have access to. To conclude, although technology has its plusses, young generations must be careful that these plusses do not turn into negative luxuries that harm our reading abilities.

            Truly, young generations have no going back. This is a new era, we have learned to accept it and accommodate to its lifestyle; we have become accustomed to its advantages and its efficiency. When it comes to writing, it seems that younger generations continue to practice and develop positive writing skills. Although texting and Facebook messaging are not always grammatically correct, young generations seem to be able to distinguish the difference between informal, social writing and academic, professional writing. If this cycle continues writing will continue to grow and expand. Yet, I do not believe the same goes for reading. It is extremely difficult for people to read like they used to. Concentration is being diminished and one prefers to skim texts instead of going through the trouble of reading the entire work. For many, reading has become a hassle. Young generations should strive to bring back a culture in which reading is a routine, yet enjoyable task. In my opinion, reading has become more negatively affected then writing, but I believe that YOU, the younger generations will address and can strive to change this concern more than ever and prove to the world that technology will not affect your abilities to become critical, intellectual, and advanced readers and writers. Instead, of you becoming a slave of technology and the age of the Internet, this technology should become a slave to you.