January 23, 2012
Pardon me Clive.. Will you pass the Grey Poupon?
Hedges
and Carr address literacy as a problem. Specifically, Carr argues that Google
and the evolution of the Internet are making us dumber because they are
changing the way we interpret information. Thompson’s argument is the unsurprising
positive side that I never thought I’d hear. I mean seriously, all we’ve been
talking about is how the Internet can make us dumber. Seeing that the new age
of Internet is actually making our writing better, well that’s nice to hear. It
wasn’t surprising to see that we “Write
far more than any generation before them. That's because so much socializing
takes place online, and it almost always involves text.” My grandma actually sent
me this ridiculous email of this women’s story where she said, I was born
before the Internet, I was born before cell phones and many other revolutionary
inventions of out time. The last line of the email says in big bold red font.
THIS WOMAN IS ONLY 59 YEARS OLD. It’s hard for people of our generation to
realize how much has happened while we were in our toddler years. I remember
when I was on winter break this year my dad told me that in the book he was
reading it said that Steve Jobs was born at the perfect year for him to be at a
perfect age to completely revolutionize the computer age. I thought back to the
saying “Timing is everything.” It also made me think of what will come.
Thompson also compliments our generation for being able to write to an
audience. He says, “The fact that students today almost always write
for an audience (something virtually no one in my generation did) gives them a
different sense of what constitutes good writing.” I liked that this was included in the article
because it shows that the way are writing it changing. Similar to the way we
are thinking is changing. Sound familiar?
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Your comment about Steve Jobs is very interesting. It really does make sense that he was in the right place at the right time. After his death I read a few articles about the guy. He wasn't the smartest guy in the world, just one creative enough and willing to take the risk. Its crazy to think about what opportunities there are out there right now that just need a creative mind to take the risk on.
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