Friday, January 27, 2012
NEW LITERACY
Clive Thompson and his article "Clive Thompson on the New Literacy" presents the idea that technology, instead of impairing the young generations writing skills, actually gives them (us) an upper-hand position in the writing community. He argues that with all of the writing we do, from texting to tweeting to Facebook status' and Tumbler blog posts, we actually have learned how to write for an audience. In my personal experience, I have noticed exactly that. Last semester I was assigned a final for my GHIST class in which I was to write a response to a given prompt. When I have big assignments, I usually get my parents to read it first to make sure what I am turning in isn't a complete jumbled mess (sometimes it most definitely is). Especially with this paper, they were pleasantly surprised at the overall tone and feel of my essay saying how it took them into their mid to late 20's to get to the point where I already was. Talking to peers, friends, teachers, and family members at almost all second of the day in some form of print has certainly given myself as well as other adults the variety of perspectives needed to address a number of audiences allowing for literacy to go into a bold new direction, not backwards.
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I completely agree! Writing so much online actual has given me an appreciation for writing, I mean depending on the topic ha. I never thought of having my parents read my assignments before turning them in. That's a great idea.
ReplyDeleteI can see how writing more may enable you to practice such, but I don't think it is the technology that is making people better at writing. I disagree because the verbatim used on the internet is completely different. I think that there is a dependence on technology these days that we rely on in order to write. Plus, all of the writing techniques that are used have been taught in school. I think that having your parents read over your stuff first is a great idea!
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