Extended Essay 1
Blogging, Reading, Writing
Paige Jones
WRIT 1122
M/W 4:00-5:50
Millennials:
A Generation of
Independent Thinkers
Although it is
argued that the literacy rate of the upcoming generation is declining, on
average, young people are reading more and more often than all older
generations. Certainly, this reading and writing is principally non-academic
and does not require intellectual consideration; however, it largely involves both
technology and social networking that allows the upcoming generation to be
uniquely equipped to adapt to machines and other expertise. Technology now allows
us to gather a diverse range of information at a much faster pace. The way we
obtain information in this technology age is changing drastically, and
therefore, the way we define literacy must change to fit with the current
civilization.
Technological
advances and the information age dramatically increase the accessibility of
texts and information, allowing youth to have constant access to a wide range
of academic and other written works. Technology allows individuals to access
texts from anywhere through the Internet. E-books, audio books, and online
media are all more extensively available for all people, decreasing the
discrepancy in literacy due to financial standing. This is because these online
resources are much less expensive than printed books and much more accessible to
all people regardless of physical location. This approaching generation can be
seen reading more often as well. By communicating through text messages, social
networking websites, and email, this young generation reads more words everyday
just to communicate with others than any generation preceding them.
Nicholas Carr explains
in his article, Is Google Making Us
Stupid?, that it has become increasingly hard for individuals to engross
themselves in a text because it is becoming more common to have a shortened or
condensed form of writing that does not require people to entirely engage with
a text. Carr describes this, as “Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words.
Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski” (Carr 1). Carr reveals
that the Internet is now consuming our lives because we not only use it for
research and email, but also for maps, the telephone, newspapers, and even television.
The Internet is now making people adapt to the capability of processing
information at an even faster rate, increasing productivity. Widespread use of
the Internet has caused the way our society operates to shift, and therefore
causing a much-needed shift in what literacy means as well. As a society, we
must return to the fundament of what literacy really means and how we use
reading and writing in our everyday lives. The foundation of literacy is to
share ideas and allow individual’s opinions, creative thinking, and
intellectual writing to outlive the author’s short life. This has never before
been as easy, instant or within reach of an entire population as it is today.
Individuals are able to self publish at no cost through blogging, people can
share their unique creativity through photos on Pinterest, and individuals can
connect with people around the world through Facebook. Internet access and a
keyboard are the only things needed for individuals to share with the world
their ideas, their beliefs, and their life. This is what literacy is coming to
mean in the current technology and information age.
In the article, America the Illiterate, Chris Hedges describes that the illiterate
majority of America, “is informed by simplistic, childish narratives and
clichés” (Hedges 1). Hedges continues to illustrate that the “political leaders in our
post-literate society no longer need to be competent, sincere or honest. They
only need to appear to have these qualities” (Hedges 2). He further describes
the illiteracy of our nation’s leaders by analyzing the diction that past
Presidents and presidential candidates used during presidential debates
throughout the last century. The results included George W Bush speaking at a
sixth grade level, Kennedy at a tenth grade level, and Lincoln at an eleventh
grade level. Showing that the Presidents farther back in our history are
considered to have been smarter because of a lack in technology that resulted
in people reading and writing more and at a higher level. However, Hedges does
not give this data context of whether the grade level that each President spoke
at is compared to one time period or the President’s respective time periods
and this context drastically changes the interpretation of these results. However,
regardless of the concept of brainless men leading our country, the leadership
of our nation is adjusting to the current times as well. By using language that
all people, not just what voters can comprehend, we are able to have a more
engaged youth who are concerned with he broader community. In addition, using
online media and advertising, political candidates are able to reach a wider
range of constituents. Citizens are now able to overthrow oppressive government
regimes using the power of social media to connect with others.
Nicholas
Carr and Chris Hedges both argue that the contemporary technology is inhibiting
the current generation of young people to become more intellectual and
independent thinkers. However, due to a rapidly advancing proficiency in
technology, this generation of young people, known as the Millennials, is
completely equipped to transform and adapt to an assortment of jobs when they
enter the work force. Once the entire generation enters the job market, the
Millennials will be the single most technologically proficient generation
employed, and with this, we will be able to uniquely and expertly fill the 35
million jobs that are going to become available within the next five years
(Door). On average, Millennials have more friends or connections on
social networking websites like Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest that allows
them to have a wider variety of information and opinions at their fingertips.
This is an extreme contrast to any other generation or group of people. “With
new technology, Millennials are 2.5 times more likely to be early adopters” of
new technology, new ideas, and new procedures (Fromm, Franz).
After analyzing the writing
works of college students across the nation, Andrea Lunsford found, “that the
length of student writing has increased nearly three-fold in these 25 years”
(Lunsford 2), revealing that the Millennial generation is doing more academic writing
than any generation before them. Lunsford also concluded, “that while error
patterns have changed in the last twenty-five years, the ratio of errors to
number of words has remained stable not just for twenty-five years but for the
last 100 years. In short, we found that students today certainly make errors—as
all writers do—but that they are making no more errors than previous studies
have documented. Different errors, yes—but more errors, no” (Lunsford 2). These
errors have shifted because of the technology of spell checkers and
auto-correct.
Andrea Lunsford also
examines the affects that text messaging, social networking and other informal
systems of communication have on academic writing. She observed in her study
that, “students did plenty of emailing, and texting; they were online a good
part of every day; they joined social networking sites enthusiastically. But
rather than leading to a new illiteracy, these activities seemed to help them
develop a range or repertoire of writing styles, tones, and formats along with
a range of abilities” (Lunsford 1). She
goes on to note that by the time students reach the collegiate level their
ability to adapt to different writing styles and tones has become very
advanced. If anything, the Millennial generation has become one of a more
diverse range of writing styles and abilities caused by the current technology.
Even though there
is no clear or detailed definition or standard of literacy, the ability to read
and write proficiently has increased and extended to more people because of
technology. Technology allows books and academic texts to be more accessible to
everyone, in addition to people reading and writing more often everyday to
communicate with their peers. This generation of up and coming young people
allows for an exclusively competent group of people able to adapt to new tools
at a much faster rate.
Works Cited
Carr,
Nicholas. "Is Google Making Us Stupid?." Atlantic Monthly.
July/August (2008):
n. page. Web. 26 Jan. 2013.
Door,
Tamara. "The Journey: Making a Difference as a Leader." Colorado
Leadership
Alliance Summit 2013. Denver Metro Chamber Leadership
Foundation.
Colorado, Denver. 26 Jan 2013.
Fromm,
Jeff, and Andrea Franz. "Four Facts You Need to Know About
Millennials."
MarketingProfs. (2012): n. page. Print.
<http://www.mpdailyfix.com/four-
facts-you-need-to-know-about-millennials/>.
Hedges, Chris. "America the Illiterate." (2008):
n. page. Web. 27 Jan. 2013.
<http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20081110_america_the_illiterate/>.
Lunsford,
Andrea. "Our Semi-literate Youth? Not So Fast." n. page. Web. 27 Jan.
2013.
<https://blackboard.du.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id
=_2_1&url=/webapps/blackboard/execute/launcher?
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