Advanced Essay #2

Technology inside and outside the classroom is changing the way future generations of humans think. Despite what many people think, the use of technology for communication and education has negative effects on the way humans think. If children from a young age are overexposed to technology, they greatly affect the child’s ability to focus in a standard academic society. By looking at the overuse technology in young children, we can see a decrease in critical analysis and comprehension of literature, which most people do not see; this is important because it can be detrimental to the success of future humanity .

I sat in the chair as I chowed down on my dinner in the restaurant. Pineapple fried rice is pretty tasty, but there was something about my meal that was off. I could here the busty clanking of silverware on plates. I looked up and saw a small child at maybe the age of six performing a drum solo with his utensils on his food filled plate. The not-so-radical drum solo was interrupted by the child’s mother who told the child to stop. I was happy to see that child stopped the noise. The child took out a small portable video game device from his pocket and continued to play games on that, I went back to my meal but when I finished I looked up and noticed the child had still not touched his food.

Although there are some positive sides to learning with technology, our familiarity with technology and desire for quicker knowledge is reducing our ability to do critical thinking and analyzing, especially of literature. As we become more technologically literate, we become less literate with literature. The effects of being overly dependent on technology can especially be observed through younger generations who are often referred to as “digital natives.” These digital natives have also been referred to as people of the “app generation” a phrase coined by psychologists Howard Gardner and Katie Davis which describes the generation “which grew up with phones in hand and apps at the ready. It tends toward impatience, expecting the world to respond like an app, quickly and efficiently. The app way of thinking starts with the idea that actions in the world will work like algorithms: Certain actions will lead to predictable results.”  

As the student assistant tech helper at my middle school, I had several duties. One of my main duties was to assist the children in lower school classes with any questions they had with the computers or tablets. During the silent reading portion of the class a young girl came up to me and asked for one of the school tablets. When I asked her why she needed the tablet, she said it was to look up the meaning of a word. Generally kids are not allowed to be on technology during silent reading time, so I suggested that young girl should use a dictionary to look up the meaning of the word. I was then surprised when the young girl claimed that she had know idea how to use a dictionary and that nobody uses them nowadays anyway. It didn’t make sense to me, a fifth grade student not knowing how to use a dictionary.

When reading literature, one must be able to comprehend and react to it, this is what literacy is all about. If some explanation to the meaning of a word is needed the reader will attempt to find the meaning of the word. Using a search bar on an online search engine gives almost immediate solution to any inquiries and chances to do independent thinking. Of course, if a person, especially a young person, has difficulty understanding or analyzing literature through traditional methods, it may be a result of the overuse of digital learning and literature. According to an article from Brockport College on Effects of Technology on Literacy Skills and Motivation to Read and Write “Results from Grimshaw, Dungworth and McKnight’s (2007) study provided data on the effects that digital texts have on comprehension and motivation compared to traditional texts. According to Grimshaw et al., participants came into the study with a strong background knowledge in technology navigation. According to Grimshaw et al., children who read using digital texts were not able to manually follow along while they were reading.”

The ability to be technologically literate is important for preserving literature and communication but traditional communication and education that is taught with people and traditional, unabridged texts opens up more chances to interpret different meanings to expand and provide greater variety for literacy. With a greater understanding and variety of literacy people can make connections with fellow human beings and have a greater ability to do independent analysis of literature and communication.

Sources:

Fox, Leah C.C., "Effects of Technology on Literacy Skills and Motivation to Read and Write." Education and Human Development Master's Theses. Paper 522, 2014. Web. 18 Nov. 2015

<http://digitalcommons.brockport.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1535&context=ehd_theses>.


Turkle, Sherry. "Stop Googling. Let’s Talk." The New York Times. The New York Times, 26 Sept. 2015. Web. 20 Nov. 2015. <http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/27/opinion/sunday/stop-googling-lets-talk.html?_r=0>.


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