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 or Instagram, and
individuals can connect with people around the world through Facebook and
LinkedIn. 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 the foundation of what literacy is coming to mean in the current
technology and information age.
In the article, America the Illiterate, Chris Hedges describes that the current illiterate
majority of America, “is informed by simplistic, childish narratives and
clichés” (Hedges 1). He
backs up this argument with an analysis of the word choice used by past
presidents of the US. He does this by analyzing the diction of our nation’s
former leaders during presidential debates throughout the last century. Of the
results, Hedges included that, George W Bush spoke at a sixth grade level,
Kennedy at a tenth grade level, and Lincoln at an eleventh grade level. However,
despite these results Hedges is not arguing that our nation’s presidents have
decreased in intelligence, he argues that the American public needs these
speeches to be spoken with increasing selection of less complicated words. This
discrepancy is due to the need for presidents to decrease the eloquence with
which they speak for the average American to really understand and engage in
politics. Hedges argues that this is caused by the elevated use of technology
that consequently does not require individuals to be accountable for their
education in reading and writing. However, Hedges does not give this data
context of whether the grade level that each President spoke at is compared to a
single time period or the President’s respective time periods and this context would
drastically change the interpretation of these results.
Nicholas
Carr and Chris Hedges both argue that 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, 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, connections, and relationships due social networking
websites like Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest that allows them to have a wider
variety of information and opinions at their fingertips. Thus, allowing them to
be more adept to the cultural and emotional differences that exist around the
world. This is an extreme contrast to any other generation or group of people
that exists today. “With new technology, Millennials are 2.5 times more likely
to be early adopters” of new technology, new ideas, and new procedures in and
out of the work world (Fromm, Franz). These changing times require a change in
our current definition of literacy. Owing to the fact that reading and writing
no longer only regularly take place within the walls of business and scholarly
education, literacy must include the ability to connect with people around the
globe because this has become the standard for the rising generation.
After analyzing the writing projects
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. In addition to this scholarly work, much of
the young person’s writing can be caught up with social events for the most
part on mobile telephones or tablet computers, students have shown to have a
complete understanding of who their audience is and are able to adjust
accordingly. With this understanding, the generation not only writes a larger
quantity and a better quality of writing. 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. This consistency with the
amount of errors that have occur throughout history and the increase in
academic writing today, are both factors contributing to the evaluation that
the college-age generation may very well be more literate and in a wider range
of areas than generations preceding them. This epitomizes the idea that the Millennials
are literate in a different way—not less literate, just different. Thus,
literacy and what it means, as a contribution to the larger society is what
allows it to develop new meanings as times change.
Andrea Lunsford also
examines the affects that text messaging, social networking and other informal
systems of communication have on academic writing. She observed throughout 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 more diverse in their 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 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?
Did I mention that I love your title? Looks good!
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