Essay

Here is my essay:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0Af6i16cwRwAqZGNwM3I1a2JfMWdxOG1uNmR2&hl=en


A New Age of Technology:
A Revolution in Reading and Writing
Since the creation of the internet in 1990, the World Wide Web has transformed the way we communicate. The technological progress that has been made within the last few decades will continue to affect our society for generations. The question is not whether it will affect us, but how. Studies, along with countless anecdotes, and personal experiences have shown me that the internet has changed the way we read and write. Opinions about whether this change is good or bad range from one extreme to the other. It is nearly impossible to understand the far reaching consequences of this literary transformation; however, by trying to address the negative and positive results, we may be better prepared to deal with the issues that will face our generation and generations to come.
Before one can address the negative and positive attributes of the internet, he or she must understand what the internet actually is. Tim Berners-Lee was a computer scientist working at CERN in the late 1980s. CERN is a particle physics laboratory near Geneva, which houses thousands of scientists using countless different computer systems. At the time, documents were stored hierarchically. The system was inefficient and complicated, so Berners-Lee proposed a new system that would solve CERN’s documentation problems. This proposal became what we now know as the internet.
Many people believe that the internet has had a negative effect on the way we read and write. It is difficult to deny their rationale when we begin to closely examine some of the changes happening today. One of the major problems facing the United States is the astonishing illiteracy rates. In his article, American the Illiterate, Chris Hedges states the over 42 million adults in the United States cannot read, and 50 million have the reading comprehension level of a fourth or fifth grader. That is nearly a third of the population of the United States, and the number of illiterate or semi-literate adults is increasing at an alarming rate of nearly 2 million a year. The fact that the illiteracy rates are so high is frightening in and of itself, but when one considers some of the other statistics, the picture begins to look very grave.
According to Chris Hedges, when people read the New York Times, they spend about 45 minutes with the physical paper. The average viewer of the New York Times website is about 7 minutes. There is a fundamental difference between reading and skimming. In the article, Is Google Making Us Stupid?, Nicholas Carr relates a conversation he had with Bruce Friedman, a pathologist at the University of Michigan. Friedman told Carr, “I can’t read War and Peace anymore. I’ve lost the ability to do that. Even a blog post of more than three or four paragraphs is too much to absorb. I skim it.” I have even noticed myself skimming rather than reading. When I was younger, I was an avid reader. My mom used to make me go to bed at 9:30pm, and there were many evenings that I pretended to be asleep until I thought she had gone to bed. As soon as the coast was clear, I would slip my reading light and book out from under my pillow and silently find my page. I spent countless nights curled up in bed reading until I began to see sunlight creeping through my bedroom window. Today, I find it difficult to even make it through my required reading for class. If the illiteracy rates are increasing, and literate people are having more and more difficulty reading long texts, what does that mean for the literacy of our country?
Another concern is that we are becoming too overloaded with information that may, or may not, be accurate. Every time we got online, we are flooded with new bits of information, like which movie star just got divorced and wear to buy the cheapest, designer purses. After being online for just a few hours, I often feel like my brain is weighed down with useless information. In Nicholas Carr’s article he quoted the playwright, Richard Foreman, who stated that we risk becoming, “‘pancake people’—spread wide and thin as we connect with that vast network of information accessed by the mere touch of a button.” Even accurate or useful information can be misleading when read improperly. In Bad Days for New Rooms, Chris Hedges states, “Those who rely on the Internet gravitate to sites that reinforce their beliefs.” There is nothing wrong with blog posts and websites that are based on opinion. The danger is when people believe these opinions as if they are fact, and then use them to justify their own misguided views.
The concern that we are becoming too overloaded with information goes one step further. Sergey Brin and Larry Page created Google while they were working towards there doctorates at Stanford. In Is Google Making Us Stupid?, Carr quotes them saying: ““The ultimate search engine is something as smart as people—or smarter,” Page said in a speech a few years back. “For us, working on search is a way to work on artificial intelligence.” In a 2004 interview with Newsweek, Brin said, “Certainly if you had all the world’s information directly attached to your brain, or an artificial brain that was smarter than your brain, you’d be better off.”” The idea of an artificial intelligence, let alone one attached to my brain, makes me feel rather uneasy.
I have a tendency to get wrapped up in conspiracy theories. I never get too carried away, but I enjoy contemplating the future and what it may hold, for better, but especially for worse. In my opinion, there is a fine line between individuality and the blogosphere. I am of the opinion that we are what we read. As the illiteracy rates in the United States begin to climb, the public is less able to educate themselves. They can only believe what they hear and are therefore cut off from the knowledge available to literate people. As we begin to skim rather than read, I am afraid that we will lose the depth of knowledge that comes from reading and analyzing a full length novel. The more people interact on the internet the more similar their writing, reading, and thinking will be. At first we may sound individual, but what happens when our thoughts and words become a series of hyperlinks to be skimmed over? Joseph Harris discusses his views of academic writing in his novel, Rewriting. I agree with his view that academic writing is rewriting what other people have already written. I believe that this concept includes all types of writing. Everything we do, think, and write has a basis in someone else’s ideas. As people become more apt to skim than read and summarize rather than write, what will happen to that sense of individuality that can only be truly expressed through long, eloquent prose?
On the other hand, the internet has become an intricate part of our everyday lives. There are an overwhelming number of benefits that even a cynic like me cannot dismiss. Through the internet, we are able to access an unlimited amount of information. With a few clicks of a button, I can find out anything from the current weather in China to who is the Senator of Oklahoma. The majority of interactions in businesses and even on campuses like the University of Louisville take place through e-mail or on a website. In addition to the accessibility of information and the ease of communication, everyone is able to write online. In his article, Why I Blog, Andrew Sullivan states, “It was obvious from the start that it [blogging] was revolutionary. Every writer since the printing press has longed for a means to publish himself and reach—instantly—any reader on Earth”.
In the end, all we can do is speculate. It is impossible to know today what the lasting consequences of the internet and our changed literacy styles will be. There are many valid concerns; however, I believe the majority of people are too determined and strong willed to allow the internet or Artificial Intelligence to consume their individuality. I have always loved to read and write, but the way we think and therefore communicate has been changing and evolving for thousands of years. There has been a fear of change throughout the ages. Carr writes, “The arrival of Gutenberg’s printing press, in the 15th century, set off another round of teeth gnashing. The Italian humanist Hieronimo Squarciafico worried that the easy availability of books would lead to intellectual laziness, making men “less studious” and weakening their minds. Others argued that cheaply printed books and broadsheets would undermine religious authority, demean the work of scholars and scribes, and spread sedition and debauchery.” Without the printing press the world would be a much different and less educated place then it is today. Although I would hate to see the eloquence of prose get lost in the crossfire of modern technology, sometimes things must get lost for progresses sake.