A Problem That May Help

In “Literacy In Three Metaphors,” and in the “New Literacy” the aspect of literacy is rather different. In the first article, Scribner talks about hoe literacy should be described and how it comes to be defined in a certain society. On the other hand, in the second article, Thompson talks about the new type of literacy and how the new generation’s form of literacy has helped them in becoming better writers. Now, both of these writers possess the aspect of there being new types of literacy in their articles. Scribner talks about how literacy depends upon what is present and what is deemed necessary in the society, talking about how societies create their own form of literacy. For example, how in some religious societies, literacy is not granted status until the person is able to read and memorize the holy book. However, in other places, literacy is not seen until one passes a certain grade in primary schooling. However, Scribner tends to focus more on the aspect of how literacy is originated. Scribner talks about how literacy is an outcome of cultural transmission, meaning that one does not gain the meaning of words through the interactions of the words, but through the interaction of how other people use them and mean them. On the other hand, Clive Thompson tends to lean more towards going against what Carr states in his article “Is Google Making Us Stupid.” Instead of agreeing with Carr about how Google, along with other sorts of technology, are making us more stupid and are lowering are capability to read and write as good as our past generations. Instead, Thompson focuses on how technology has allowed my generation to develop a type of writing that is very audience-aware, which in turn allows for a more academic style of writing that contains a countless amount of prose in the body of the argument. The reason behind this style of writing is supposedly brought on by the constant communication between one another on technological devices. Now, as for my thoughts on this subject, I am kind of stuck in the middle of the beauty of it all. I some what agree with Carr that I have lost my concentration due to the implementation of technology into my life, which allowed me to focus more on what is happening in the social world, instead of focusing on what is in front of me, like homework or a book that I am reading. However, in the words of Thompson, I feel I have increased my abilities to be a better by writer by being able to express my thoughts and feelings on a daily schedule. I do agree that I write more than my past generations, mainly thanks to the availability of being able to share my thoughts with friends, family, and the world in general. But, even though I feel technology has helped my generation, and me I still feel it is allowing the gap to increase between the literate and illiterate. I feel that since technology cannot be dispersed equally throughout the world, that we are in a way holding back a huge percentage of the world’s populations’ abilities. I feel that if this were possible, that literacy would skyrocket due to the increase in possibilities in one’s society. People would be able to use their teachings more often and in a real world sense.