Irony is a wonderful thing. For example, I'm writing about an article that was posted on a website(after being put in a newspaper/magazine), talking about how the Internet has changed the way we read, on a website, for other people to read. To give you an idea of where I am on the Internet good/bad debate, or at least electronic entertainment in general. I have been raised in the 21st century. I believe that entertainment, of almost any form is not a problem, it is more so the people that use it that create problems, based on their interpretations of the media. I spoke about how violent entertainment is not a true factor in public shootings, rather the individuals that were doing the shooting, in a persuasive speech for my English class last year. I used examples of the killers' psychological profiles, how slightly increased aggression was the only result of taking part of such entertainment, and even used examples of people in my class that enjoyed entertainment of a violent nature, and were so obviously not people to go on a violent rampage in their school.
But I've seen arguments from the other side of the debate that had a lesser form of logic that Mr. Carr used. Overall, he had a very impressive stance on the issue he was arguing. He stated that he experienced a change in the way he read, not being able to keep his focus on reading an article or book. I occasionally find myself in the same predicament, but he is a fully grown adult, and I am an adolescent. I.e., focus is not exactly my primary function.
But is this stupidity? Maybe this is just a different way of thinking. Granted, there is value in finding beauty as well as information in a written piece. But skimming an article, looking for information, is not a robotic attribute, nor is it a sign of laziness. Our brains are simply changing. For example, during the Renaissance, the great thinkers of that era were thought to be challenging previous beliefs and thoughts, and while maybe they were, today, they are revered as some of the greatest men and women of humankind. But back then, maybe they were called "stupid," or a variation of that. Perhaps, a few decades from now, skimming an article won't be a detriment, but a different kind of thinking. Probably not as a reverence, but an understanding.
I think that a quote from one of the greatest thinkers/scientists of the 20th century, Nikola Tesla, is appropriate to sum up a lot of your feelings. “The practical success of an idea, irrespective of its inherent merit, is dependent on the attitude of the contemporaries. If timely it is quickly adopted; if not, it is apt to fare like a sprout lured out of the ground by warm sunshine, only to be injured and retarded in its growth by the succeeding frost.” Right now, a lot of people view the internet and its rewiring of our brains to be a negative thing, but we're also at a time where we've made quantum leaps in science and physics, but particularly in technology. Our grandparents might have gone from farming with draft horses and a plow in some isolated backwoods portion of Wisconsin (my grandma did as a child) to being able to Skype with their grandchildren across the country in the space of a lifetime, which is incredible. Yet a lot of these people are resistant to the technologies they never grew up with, and while we accept them because we've grown up being able to ask Google some odd questions and occasionally for homework answers when the text book is just too convoluted to understand. Anyway, that was a long comment. Wowie. Nice work, Saul. Keep it up.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you in the fact that I don't think our "new" way of thinking classifies us of being "stupid." We are simply learning a new technique for reading: skimming. Although I don't think that it is a positive thing to lose our capability to read deeply, I do believe that skimming is a very valuable skill to learn. Moderation is key in our ever-changing world of technology!
ReplyDeleteI agree with mostly everything you said Saul. You raise some points that I have not seen previously written. While talking about electronic entertainment, you stated, " I believe that entertainment, of almost any form is not a problem, it is more so the people that use it that create problems, based on their interpretations of the media." I fully believe this statement is correct. The entertainment is there for our enjoyment, but some choose to use it in the wrong way. You then went on to compare skimming to Renaissance thinkers. This appears a bold leap, but I believe that your point deserves to be exercised. Who am I to say that we won't think of these skim advocates as innovative some day?
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