Be
sure to post the four digit course section at the top of your blog
posting. There is no need to include the ENC 1101 part; Just put the
four digits of the course section. After you post the course number, you
are welcome to give your posting a title if you so choose.
Consider the arguments put forth by Nicholas Carr and explore how well his ideas are holding up considering the date and time for his publication. How much of what Carr argues is still relevant? Consider aspects of Carr's argument and explore how those sub-arguments might line up with your own experiences. For this initail posting section, I want you do demonstrate critical engagement with the reading for week five
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For this section of the week's blog posting, I want you to think critically about the different kinds of writing you do for online digital spaces. How often do you post status updates for Facebook? What occasions call you to post a status update? How often do you Tweet and what kinds of content do your Tweet about? Who do you follow on Facebook or Twitter and why? Do you play online games taht involve communication? How does communication happen in those games? Are there conventions and language practices that are specifc to that gaming community?
There are a lot of questions in the previous paragraph, and I don't expect you to answer all of them, but this section of your blog should demonstrate critical thinking regarding your use of digital communication.
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After coding and analyzing your transcript, what claims can you make about your writing process? What evidence will you use to suppory your claims? What aspects from other blog responses might serve as evidence for your argument?
Your original posting for Week 5 is due by Sunday, Sept. 16 by 11:59pm (Eastern Standard Time).
Your response to a peer's posting is due by Tuesday, Sept. 18 by 11:59pm (Eastern Standard Time).
If you have any
questions regarding this prompt, please contact me at joseph.longhany@ucf.edu
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ReplyDeleteI believe Carr's argument about google and technology is very spot on. I think that the facts he showed from other researches help his argument very well. the Carr is definitely right, technology and computers is changing the way we act,speak, and think. The farther we move along with technology, i believe, the more true Carr's arguments become. Knowing that you have all the information you need in about 5 clicks or less will change the way you think no matter who you are. When someone is presented with an easy task and a hard task, the majority of people will take the easy way out every single time. Now there is still the minority that will choose to take the hard route and do the work, but with the speed technology is advancing, pretty soon there will be no more books to read. All the books will be online or on some sort of technological device. This means that in the end, there is only gonna be an easy road to take. The only argument i have against Carr is that the internet, and technology has also been able to do good things. People with incredible talents were given the opportunity to be discovered on the internet. The internet has allowed countless foundations and charities the opportunity to get the word out about their work, and bring in donationsthat will help them. In the end, i think that the internet and technology has changed the way we think and act, but i do not think that it can be seen as only a bad change, as much good has come from the internet and technology.
I personally, when it comes to texting, instant messaging, or posting facebook statuses, type correctly. I spell out all my words correctly and rarely use abbreviations. I think this has helped me to not get sucked into the technological vacuum that seems to take many people. Those people that cut off words or shorten them such as "u" for "you," i believe will struggle to be proffesional when it comes to their work. I think that all these years of typing and thinking a certain way, it will take a very long time to be able to write correctly. When it comes to facebok, i do not post very many statuses. When i looked back at my post, i realized that most of them were for special occasions. The other day i gave a shout out to a friend who was playing his first college football game. I do not post a status every five seconds and let the entire world know exactly what im doing. I think i have been able to stay out of the "posting my life on facebook" and the texting 1 letter per word by playing sports. It may seem weird but in the end i believe it has worked out. When your in a sport or multiple sports, your time is very limited with practices and games and such. This allows my mind stay occupied on the task at hand. I have to worry about practice or the game, and then once thatsover, i have to begin to think about school. I have to do my homework and study in a limited time. The sports was able to keep me from having so much free time that i can constantly update my facebook status. I think also that the generation tha t i am in, the older teens, did not fully get brought up in a technological era. I think when we were younger we had things a little harder. There were still encyclopedias, and phones were not able to text or were not easy to text on. So i believe that not our entire generation was absorbed by technology, and that some people were able to avoid it. Yes, i still use technology and the internet like eveyone else, but i think that my mentality has not completely gone away to technology and its advances. I use the technolgy given to me, such as google and the internet, and i rely on those things heavily for research and other things, but that is what is presented to me to use. I do not abbreviate my words or check my facebook every three seconds, so i believe that i am not fully engulfed in technology just yet.
Cynthia Lapham om08
ReplyDeleteReading Carr’s argument made me reflect on my own experiences. Everything I read in his article was factual but where he saw the Internet as a hindrance I saw it as empowering. The Internet has mentally changed me. The feat of the intellectual human has brought us to the cusp of a future that is quite different than the one even we, the ME generation, grew up in. We’ve become lazy as a species. We no longer toil in the fields and now we no longer utilize the mind that enabled us to leave the fields and pursue higher thinking. The swift thinking he mentioned is quite true even for my generation. Society has become so ingrained with quick and easy information we all acquiring a form of ADD that is self-imposed. There is a silver lining to losing our mental faculties. No longer are humans the only beings able to store and regurgitate information on the planet—computers can be programed to house all the information we need and if need-be look it up to help us through our days. Humanity is at the precipice of a very sharp double edge sword. We are about to forget that our thoughts have merit; bits of ones and zeros are programmed by our thoughts. Google is a tool that we are not utilizing to help us achieve the collective goal of becoming more advanced. In a way we are squandering the very tool we created as we are shaping our minds to be scatterbrained and only interested in the most up to date fact of the minute. Having all this information at our fingertips is not a bad thing and as we move away from the three dimensional world of paper and books we must accept the future of snippets of information but always embrace the fact that knowledge is now free to everyone who knows the right questions to asks. As a whole we should be grateful for the Internet even if it is causing us to become bored easily. Everything you could ever ask for is on the internet and even without the Internet “Pancake People” were always around. Even as we become lazier with our mental processes we read more than ever, which is a great deterrent to Alzheimer’s, and exchange information quicker than ever before. Lives are saved, ideas shared, futures secured. Google is helping us become more unified in sharing information; an open source platform that allows us to wander and explore even if we explore in paragraphs instead of pages.
I one hundred percent agree with what you just said. Society is using Google, but not using it to what it could actually be. We are indeed taking the lazy way out, reading things for a fact or two rather than for content and to become ultimately more intelligent. On the same token it is putting everyone at the advantage of knowing whatever their heart desires.
DeleteoMo8
DeleteI agree with you on almost every single point, with the exception of one, where you make the statement "as we become lazier." To me, I draw a different conclusion, based on your prior arguments. I do not believe that it is laziness that limits the depths that we plunge to in an article (for you point out that we are reading more then ever), rather we are dealing with an inverse relationship between the increased amount of information that we now have available to us and the amount of time we have to consume it. Therefore, I see it as a necessary extension for us to develop the ability to quickly absorb the necessary information and move on.
I find it interesting how you think that Google has empowered you. Carr made a very good argument about the way that the internet is changing the way people read and their methods of reading. However you made a very good argument to about how you think that Google has changed you and how the internet is being used to program our thoughts. You gave really good examples about the internet is actually benefiting us and not hindering the human species. I can agree with you that Google is helping us become more unified in sharing information.
DeleteCynthia Lapham continued
ReplyDeleteWriting correctly is something I cherish and will always be regarded as important. When I go on the internet and I see abbreviations, whacky spellings and acronyms paired with initialisms all I want to do is become the Grammar Nazi I was born to be. I have never been hip per se so I never jumped on that cavalier attitude of modern-day phonetic spelling that became the craze so many summers ago. Luckily, my parents had always been keen on proper spelling and always corrected me when I began to stray. Writing correctly even on social networking sites is very important. People judge you on how you present your thoughts under extreme scrutiny. Everything we do and say on the Internet is there for the world to see—getting out of a habit is hard especially when it’s something you do without even thinking. When it comes to social networking sites the only one I frequent is Facebook. Twitter never tickled my fancy; needless to say I don’t have one and I plan to keep it that way. When it comes to Facebook, I rarely posts statuses. I use Facebook to snoop and make sure my life isn’t as boring as I think it is. My Timeline reveals all; on my Timeline I have posted three statuses in the last month and posted a dozen or so photos I found jaunty. When I am on Facebook and I see friends who post about their depression, their outrages night life, et cetera, all I feel is sorry for them. Facebook might be for friends but in the future they will all regret posting what they did. In reality, in my experience, no one cares about you on Facebook—most aren’t your real friends and the other half just want you to be crazy so they’ll look better. My thoughts on writing correctly stem from the fact that when I read I become paranoid and distracted when I find a typo in my book. My English isn’t perfect by any standards but people are paid to correct mistakes. Reading a mistake throws off my entire reading rhythm and I lose focus. I try to bring my distain for incorrect grammar to everything I do on the Internet—Facebooking, Pintresting, and e-mailing. Growing up I never got a hang of the T-9 for texting and initialisms always went over my head. Even now I shy away from using modern electronic colloquialisms like WTF, STFU and LOL. Nothing is worse than receiving a text and the person responds LOL and LMAO with every text. Honestly, I’m not that funny and you aren’t that prone to laughter in person. If you like a comment throw in a smiley face to show quasi-facial expressions. Having a smartphone has made me more of an addict than ever before of Facebook, Instagram, Pintrest and Tumblr. Before my iPhone I could check my accounts after school. Now I check them every couple of minutes. It’s addicting and it’s causing me to lose focus on life. The children of the future will have an even harder time breaking free and finding their own free time as they will be indoctrinated into an electronic cult that everyone is in. When I read that article about how people are seen as weird if they don’t have a Facebook all I felt was sadness. The world is becoming more and more closed off from each other as more means of connecting become available. The Internet is more than Facebook though. I use the Internet to find random facts that make me laugh and give me pause as I think of the knowledge I just read. But in the end I realize the power of the Internet and the importance of why I should use proper English. I don’t want my future employers lurking on my profile page and deny me a job because they thought I was a bad seed. Writing should be constant and I never break from my training. I like those who use proper English, leave those cr@zy ways in ninth grade and understand that the Internet is forever and what you write will always be critical to your future.
0M08
ReplyDeleteIn this article, Nicholas Carr states that he used to love reading and recently he's finding it difficult to read more than two pages. This didn't just happen for no reason though, it seems to be due to the convenience of the Internet and what it provides us with nowadays. The Internet can pull up information that would take hours in a library with just the click of a button. As stated in the article, the Internet not only provides information, but it also shapes the process of thought. Due to the fact that one can get all the information they need by a quick process, it ruins their concentration. We now expect answers to be thrown at us instead of having to do a lot of research to get to it. Carr isn't the only experiencing this though. Carr states that his friends and acquaintances are going through it as well, and I know it has happened to me too. I always question why I hate reading now. Carr provides anecdotes to prove that he's not the only one but also knows that this can't be proven by just anecdotes, we need actual evidence done through experimentation. A study had been done reporting that we don't read how we used to and that we use to Internet to kind of hide from reading in that traditional sense. We pretty much skim or glance at what we are reading then we move on to the next source which was labeled as "power browsing." The date of this publication goes back to July 2008 and we've gone through drastic changes in technology since then but I still believe that what he argues is still relevant. We may be reading more today than we did 30 to 40 years ago but it isn't the same type of reading which has changed the way we think. Maryanne Wolf, a developmental psychologist, states that the rapid and efficient style that the internet uses weakens our ability to do read deeply and make connections. She also explains that reading isn't inborn, it's something we must learn to do. The different forms of technology we use for learning and reading shapes our cognitive process. We can make conclusions that reading from the Internet and from reading books and printed works changes metal circuit. To further develop his argument, Carr talks about Freidrich Nietzsche was having vision problems almost to a point where he would have to give up writing. When he bought a type writer, it basically saved his life as he learned to type without having to even look. Using the type writer affected his style of writing just as the internet supposedly affects our style of reading. Our brains our very flexible giving it the ability to make new connections and completely wash out old ones. It adapts to change. Daniel Bell has concluded that we take on qualities of the different type of technology that we use. An example used to display this is the mechanical clock as everything we did was done by the clock. The Internet has now become our everything including our map, clock, printing press, typewriter, calculator, telephone, radio, television etc. Not only do we as people adapt to the Internet, but other sources of media must adapt as well to keep up with our expectations (easy, convenient, fast). Frederick Winslow Taylor played a huge role in maintaining efficiency. He used a stopwatch and developed many experiments to improve efficiency by making different algorithms and testing them out in the workplace. The best one would always be used and it definitely increased productivity in the factories.
His system was used by everyone around the world after that as his method created what was called "perfect efficiency". His method has also exerted influence over the Internet. Google is using his theory of efficiency for the mind instead of the hand. Many experiments are done every day to find algorithms controlling how we get information and process it. They are trying to come up with "the perfect search engine" and is leading us astray from deep reading and concentrated thought according to Carr. He also argues that as some people praise technological advances, others see the worst in new technology. Just as Carr believes that the Internet can ruin our mental capacity to concentrate on reading and making certain connections, Socrates believed that the development of writing would make people forgetful. Even though he wasn't wrong, he didn't predict how it would benefit us and expand our knowledge. Hieronimo Squarciafico was a humanist that worried that the availability of books would cause laziness. Once again he wasn't wrong but he wasn't able to foresee the benefits that printed books would have for us. So although I agree completely with what Carr is arguing, the Internet will benefit us more in the future as technology continues to change. I can relate his arguments to myself because I for one do not read as much as I used to and it has certainly affect my level of understanding and my ability to think. It takes a lot out of me to focus on a reading. The ability to view a book on Sparknotes for example, pretty much provides an easy summary for a book pointing out all the important information for a quick and easy way for someone to understand. I and many of students use this fast and convenient method to avoid having to read a long novel. Even if I'm not trying to find an easier method for reading a book or doing an assignment, I'm always browsing the internet to do my own research and still get distracted. If a page I'm looking has too long of an article I tend to disregard it completely and look for a shorter article. These all relate to some of the arguments that Carr makes.
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I don't really post statuses on Facebook that often. If I hear an interesting quote from somewhere that's when I usually post a status. I make sure I use proper grammar when I'm typing online and for other writing I do. You never know who is lurking your page so I make sure I'm very careful about what I post and the language when I am posting stuff. I'm not one of those people that puts a status when they're really angry, sad, or even happy because I know that nobody wants to hear any of that. I usually like posting a status when I know other people will like it as well so I keep them in mind when posting something. There have been many times when I've deleted people off of my Facebook for posting a status every few minutes about what they're doing and how they feel at the moment because it really bothers me and it's very selfish. I don't have a Twitter so I never tweet or follow anyone. I believe that Twitter was made for people seeking attention. All you do is write statuses all day and hope people will follow you and retweet you. On Facebook, I only become friends with people I know I wouldn't accept a friend request from someone I don't know. I don't play any video games involving communication so this section doesn't apply to me.
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ReplyDeleteAfter coding and analyzing my transcript, I have concluded that I am not the type to backspace a lot or do a lot of editing in the midst of typing something. I make all the changes necessary after I have completed my first draft. Also I noticed that when I begin to hesitate or struggle with my next sentence, I usually go back to the directions and reread what it's asking until something comes to mind. I have long periods of just silence while I'm because I'm so focused that I forget that I'm supposed to be speaking about what is going on. This shows that I need complete silence to be able to keep my concentration and I will use this as evidence to support my claim. I also remember forcing myself to speak while typing my paper and when I did that, my sentence did not make any sense because my ideas got mixed up. When I was reading through the other blogs, I noticed that people seemed to be agreeing with me on how the talking aloud while composing was a major distraction and didn't help our process at all so this also supports my argument.
Brittan Petty
ReplyDeleteOM08
I believe that Nicholas Carr's argument is very accurate. The research he brings into his argument not only help him make his point, but also act as a reference that we can go back and look at. Carr's point on the internet changing the way we think, act, and speak is very well put. Growing up around technology, we don't really see how much it affects us, but the older generations, who grew up with no computers, cell phones, and internet, see more of the effects. They knew what it was like to read book after book, looking for just a tiny bit of information before they could move onto another book. Back in those days, procrastination wasn't much of an option, whereas these days, procrastination is what we are about. We put off writing papers, researching topics, and doing homework because we know that in just three clicks of the mouse and a couple of typed words later, we have the information needed at our disposal. The once pen and paper writing has vanished in the blink of an eye, instead it is replaced with a keyboard and the newest writing software (Microsoft Word). As much as I hate to say this, we are all lazy these days, and because of this, we all choose to go the easy route. There are some of us that choose to do the hard labored research and the old fashioned pen and paper writing, but the majority prefer the computer. I am one of those people. As the internet continues to grow, the printed books, newspapers, and other sources of information are going to diminish. Everything is going to be available online at little to no cost, and in today's economy, we would welcome that change. I've noticed as I have gotten older that I find it hard to focus on book or publication for too long. A chapter of a book at a time is about all I can manage. I remember being younger and reading books in one day. Those days are long gone. I skim, or “power browse,” through publications, even internet ones, because my attention starts to wonder. There are many wonderful benefits that the internet offers us, but do the cons outweigh the pros? If we keep going on the track we are going, we will start to become computer literate, and book illiterate.
I don't typically post on Facebook that often. I “like” statuses and pictures more than I post. I typically post something about my day if I find the need to share my life with everyone. I love being able to stay connected to people through Facebook, but this in no way means that I want to air my dirty laundry. I have yet to grasp the concept of why people post their so called “dirty laundry.” Twitter is a relatively new digital writing space for me. Up until August, in ever knew what a tweet was nor did I have the want to know. I guess you could call me twitter illiterate. After moving into UCF for the fall semester, my roommates begged me to get a Twitter, and I finally caved so they would shut up. I usually only tweet when I’m bored, i.e. sitting in class, in bed, or at work. I'll usually tweet about something that happened during the day. Instagram is another digital space that I use. It's an app on the apple products that takes pictures and shows whoever is following you. I typically take pictures of stuff I am doing, eating, or just when I am bored. It serves as a boredom outlet. On Facebook, I'm friends with people I went to high school with, friends from UCF, family members, and family friends. Being friends with family members, I do sensor what I say. On Twitter, I don't really follow anyone unless they are my friends. I'm not very good at the whole twitter thing. On Instagram, I follow my friends on Facebook. I usually unfollow people who post stupid pictures (getting drunk every night, smoking weed, getting in trouble) because it gets very annoying to look at. Texting is another form of communication used to keep in touch with friends and family. Texting is, in a sense, its own language. There's text lingo: BRB (be right back), LOL (laughing out loud), and SMH (so much hate). Then there's texting like this: lyke totes dude, Imma b rite bck, and I will 4eva h8 u. Then there's people who leave out the punctuation marks and commit many grammatical errors that confuse the reader. In middle school, I used the shortened version of every word. It was the the “thing” to do back the. As I have grown older, I’ve noticed that I type out every word, use correct punctuation marks, and becoming annoyed when I see people typing as mentioned above. There is no need for it. Are people really to lazy to type out a whole sentence? Did they not learn anything in school during English class? It proves just how lazy people have become since technology has advanced.
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My writing process is pretty messed up. While I hate having to record and listen to my own voice, it has given me insight to how my writing process goes: plan, debate on what to write, read the topic of the paper over and over again, debate some more, write a sentence, go back read it, continue writing, and repeat. Writing has never been one of my strong suits. If the topic doesn't relate to me or interest me in any way, I will struggle until the end of the paper. If the topic is something I can relate to and find interesting, I will excel at it. I am the type of writer that edits as I go. I tend to do a lot of backspacing, rereading, and pondering. I also found the thinking aloud to be very distracting and the essay I was working on took much longer than it should have. I found that a lot of people also thought the same thing as me. They found it more distracting than helpful. I will use this in my argument when I write the process essay. Even though my writing process is very much involved, and takes me forever to complete, I don't plan on changing it anytime soon. If it works for me, why change it? As my Papaw says, “If it ain't broke, then it don't need fixin.”
Catherine Rucker
ReplyDeleteENC 0M08
As I read the argument presented by Nicholas Carr, I found that I did not agree with his statements at all. I did not understand, nor share his sentiments towards his thoughts about the internet. He goes on and on about how as technology progresses, it also changes how we act and think, but I don’t think that is entirely true. It’s true that with the internet, people as a whole, have become a little spoiled to say the least when it comes to accessing information. You can literally get information from anywhere on the globe in a couple of seconds, but who’s to say that’s a bad thing? Truthfully his statements and research sound like the ranting of an elderly man who loves to reminisce on how he had to walk up three hills in the snow, just to get to school and back home every day. It seems easy for him to complain about how he ‘feels’ like his brain isn’t what it used to be, and how he isn’t able to think as critically as he used to. But has he considered those of us who have grown up with technology and aren’t as easily distracted by the advertisements and the propaganda that seem to slither its way onto websites? No, he hasn’t. And frankly, his colleagues aren’t really the best choice when trying to gather information about how the internet has actually effected the mass population. From what he wrote, it seemed as though they all just gave up too quickly. If you were able to think critically before the production of Google and other various research websites, then you should be able to hold onto that quality, and appreciate that the internet has given many people the opportunity to find research on various things and individuals throughout the world. Not just from authors who may have published books on certain subjects twenty-five years earlier, but from individuals who post things currently. Things change, and change certainly is not a bad thing. He just needs to suck it up, and furthermore, for someone who is so concerned about the welfare and the continuous development of the brains of individuals, he surely has no problem posting his thoughts on the one place he’s been ranting about this whole article.
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I love how you used the memory of walking up and through valleys to get to school. We have grown from our past selves and now we have become more and more in-tune with the technology many thought would being a Terminator style Armageddon. But I disagree with how you argued if you could before then you can now. I can't see how this is true. I've experienced the very scenario he brought up but I have embraced it while the author merely thinks it's wrong and no longer will we be able to think for ourselves. Also, The Atlantic is a nationally published magazine in print and his work didn't actually have to be published exclusively on the Internet. Just cataloged. The author is from a different era that can't see the benefits that a younger more electronically savvy generation can.
DeleteCynth mo08
Catherine Rucker
ReplyDeleteENC 0M08
Part 2
I don’t really do a lot of online posting outside of the assignments needed for the completion of this course. I don’t own a Facebook; I was never allowed to have one, and going so long without one, I don’t think I’m missing much of anything. I’ve seen many of my friends and acquaintances become side-tracked by the over usage of Facebook, even to the point where they don’t care about paying attention in class or care about doing well. And even though I do own a Twitter account, I hardly ever use it for anything. I don’t care to know if someone decides to go outside or if someone has just broken up with someone else. And I don’t think that people really care what I’m doing either for that matter. I used to be obsessed with Twitter; couldn’t get enough of finding out what was going on with my favorite celebrities or what my ‘followers’ were doing. However, it took up too much of my time, so I stopped using it altogether. Now I don’t really post or even look at my page at all. If I do post something, it’s in response to a family member or to follow a roommate or something, or to see if there are any up-and-coming events that are mandatory to the dorms that I live in. Even then, I don’t look, and my roommates have to fill me in on what’s happening. Overall, I believe that those sites can become addictive, if not handled correctly and checked moderately, and I really have no interest in joining.
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I think music does play a big part in my writing process. Depending on what kinds of songs are played, they affect my mood and how fast or slow my thoughts flow onto the document. Whenever I write a sentence or a paragraph, I’d always play an energetic song from ‘My Chemical Romance’, an alternative rock band. For some reason, I found that I was not able to write anything in total silence, so having music on that made me smile and dance around in my chair, made the composing process easier. I also found that whenever I played slower songs or songs that were melancholy in nature, I’d focus more on the song and its lyrics instead and my ‘flow’ would be stinted. So I’d clearly have to steer clear of those particular songs or just put a fast song on loop until I finished my thoughts. I also found it difficult to talk continuously about what I was writing about, while I was writing.
Catherine, I found your response very interesting considering I actually agreed with what he was saying. You have pointed out good points such that we are used to this advance in technology and he isn't because he is older. He knows that his colleagues aren't enough proof, he said that himself so he's not trying to represent the entire population just from their responses, he was just using an example. I can see where you're coming from about him ranting about the subject, but he also mentions that himself. He states that it's okay to be skeptical of his skepticism due to the examples he provided with Socrates and Freidrich. I think it really depends on the people for this though because I have noticed the same changes in myself that he has experienced. I agree with you about the social networking though it is a major distraction and I believe you can't relate to this article because you don't seem to use the Internet that much according to your response. In response to your last section, I think we all agreed that the think aloud protocol was very difficult and awkward for every one of us and I also like to listen to music while I write sometimes as well so I can understand why it was so difficult for you to do it.
Deleteomo8
ReplyDeleteI wholeheartedly agree with Carr’s stance on the internet, it is not actually making us dumber, but it is our limiting our ability to focus on one source and read long articles, giving us a pseudo ADHD of sorts. The fact that he had an internet buzzed audience makes it very confusing to me as to why he would write such an ungodly long article when he himself brings up the point that people of the internet have a difficult time reading lengthy articles. This is the reason why when you’re on Facebook, you’ll more often see a six word post have more likes than a six sentence post. I don’t use social media such as Facebook too often, but when I do, I usually stick to no more than two sentences and I will only post if it is something fairly witty. I am much fonder of Instagram, which unlike Facebook, is explicitly for the sharing of pictures. More often than not, you will see a picture posted without any words what so ever, and when pictures will have a statement it is normally a quirky one liner.
I really loved your response to Carr's article. I, like you, agreed that Carr was right in a sense that the Internet is making old fashioned print very hard to concentrate on. I really like how you compared it to ADHD. That's a new way to look at his findings.I also liked how you came acrossthe Facebook status comment. It's so true. No one reads a paragraph status when, right below it, is a status that simply states "Truth is.." or "Day 16." I think that would be an interesting research topic to conduct. Instagram is such a good example of how a few words can go along way. I've compared Facebook to Instagram in my response. All in all, i completely agree with your response.
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ReplyDeleteI think Carr is absolutely right about the changes we are going to face within the next 10 years probably. I thought that it was just me that couldn't pay attention to books without forcing myself to read. I have always been like that though since elementary school, when I really started using the computer. It all makes sense what he is saying. I just don't think he realizes that this is not so much of a bad idea. Everything in this world is evolving to become more efficient. That is the goal of a human being today. Why do something one way when you can do it another way that is faster? Human beings just don't have enough time for books anymore. Once you are done with college you are expected to get a job. With a job you are working at least 40 hours a week, sleeping another 56 hours away. That is 96 hours of your weekly 168, gone right there, not including eating or other natural tendencies of humans that take time. Reading books take time and effort and we just don't have that. After work one does not want to put forth more effort into trying to analyze what one is reading. We can just go on sparknotes and get the gist saving us hours that we can now have as our free time. Google isn't necessarily making us stupid, but more evolving our minds to think and act differently in order to keep up with today's newest technologies. Imagine if we still hand wrote all books and never had technologies like the computer or even the type-writer. Life would be very hard to live. How would we get our textbooks for school, or a childrens book to read to your child, or even a newspaper? With the population booming I think these kind of things are essential to today's society. Since everyone lives such a busy life Facebook allows us to keep up with friends, keep friends posted on new ideas, or just chat about your position on the latest controversy. If anything Facebook helps us gain more knowledge easily. I cannot tell you how many arguments i have taken part in and gained knowledge, ideas, or different perspectives just on politics by political debates between my friends and I, without even leaving my seat or going through thousands of Google sites. The things that you can do online now are ridiculous. I use Facebook more to spread news than anything else. Things like "I got into UCF!", or "Wow, did One Direction really win best new artist?". But is this a bad thing? We can now interact with everyone throwing out our ideas and letting diverse knowledge be spread around, have different ideas float throw your mind. It is crazy how much digital conversing can give you socially and that is why the need for books is going down. It is just a more efficient way to get information and in today's society, efficiency is all that anyone cares about anymore.
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In my Literacy Narrative Transcription I found out that I am planning throughout the entire thing. One idea just connects to another and I use them in my writing. The planning comes in handy most of the time but with so many ideas going through my head at once I usually tend to get off topic once or twice and that is an essential downfall to my writing. I also comment a lot the about the ideas I'm writing about, recall old memories, or even comment more about the story. I'm a story teller when I do these think aloud protocols and it basically expanded what I could write about. I actually didn't mind the think aloud protocol because while I'm writing you never think about your actual thoughts while writing. That sounds confusing but its true. While you are writing you are so caught up in the writing that you don't even realize your thought process. But with this think aloud protocol you can analyze yourself and show yourself what kind of writer you are.
I completely disagree that you do not need books after you graduate college. After working long hours there is still time to do other things. Reading should be essential to any adult's life so they do not regress. Any educated person needs to keep taking in information and new ideas so they will not fall behind. If people did not have such a negative perspective on reading it would not seem like work to relax and read an interesting book at the end of a long day.
DeleteWhile you believe that the internet and social media can take the place of books in providing information, opinions of your friends and celebrities are not facts and valid conclusions can not be made from them. Also, people could have informed discussion in person.
I agree that the world is working towards more efficiency, but people's lives do not have to revolve around social media. I believe social media is negatively affecting the way our generation thinks and generally has made people more ignorant.
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ReplyDelete0119
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, Nicholas Carr gave numerous good points on how the internet is affecting our literacy. He starts out the article by giving an example of the HAL robot in the movie “2001: A Space Odyssey” being disassembled and crying that it could feel its mind deteriorating. He then relates that to the internet deteriorating our literacy, which at first I thought was a little extreme but later realized that it is somewhat true. He interviewed professors of different fields of study and one of them noticed that after a decade of doing most of his reading online, he had trouble staying focused on long pieces of writing. I have noticed this as well, as I started using the internet around age 8, have rarely read books since then, and have quite a bit of trouble focusing on the long strings of text.
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I have been involved in online digital communication since I started using the internet about ten years ago. I started out playing “Quake III Arena” online a decade ago, which was my first time communicating with people all around the world, using the internet. In a game like this, communication is sometimes just general comments about the game you are playing, or other times it may be a conversation, either about the game or about real life. Since then I have played numerous other online games and I have noticed that both the communities and types of communication that goes on varies from game to game. When I’m playing a simulation racing game, I’m usually playing with car lovers, with many being over the age of forty. A community like this is usually very mature and friendly, but still competitive. When I’m playing a brand new shooter that just came out, I’m usually playing with a younger audience, with most people being between age 14 and 20. These communities are often very competitive at all times and show it by taunting, “trash-talking”, and verbally judging each other constantly. I’ve also been using Facebook for the last few years, which is more attached to my social life. I post statuses on Facebook very rarely, and do so only when I know it’s something people actually want to read. I follow pages and people on Facebook that regularly post things that I am interested in. For example, I am interested in following the national indoor percussion competitions like someone might follow the NFL or any other sports league, so I follow many competitive units as well as the league they compete in, on Facebook.
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When I was reading and coding my Think-Aloud Protocol I noticed patterns in how I write. I noticed that it takes me the longest amount to get through my introductory paragraph. I found myself pausing frequently, trying to think of what my story would consist of and how to introduce those ideas in the introductory paragraph. I also noticed that I plan what I’m going to write every few sentences but then think of the detail as I write it. When I was writing a metaphor about literacy for last week’s blog post, it took me awhile to think of a metaphor to use, but once I had thought out what the metaphor would be I just wrote about it nonstop with details explaining the metaphor till I finished. This is similar to what I noticed in my Think-Aloud Protocol.
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ReplyDeleteNicholas Carr’s article on how technology and the Internet is affecting our thinking has a lot of evidence behind it. We live in an ever-increasing technological society where even our kids are growing up with a touch screen in front of their faces. I have seen videos of babies trying to touch a paper magazine trying to switch through pages after they’ve used an Ipad. It is a fact that technology has changed the way we receive information, get work done, and even the way we think. As Carr says “research that once required days in the stacks or periodical rooms of libraries can now be done in minutes.” We have almost unlimited information right in the palm of our hands. However, I don’t totally agree that we are as incapable of reading long pieces of writing as he says. The average person today definitely reads fewer books than 10 years ago, but I don’t think reading Facebook or social media posts negatively affects our reading and writing ability. I don’t agree with Carr that reading social media posts make us incapable to read books. If you read a lot of books and use social media you still have the ability to read lengthy readings with no problem. For the average person today who doesn’t read at all, they will probably have a harder time reading a long book and understanding it though, as compared to 10 years ago when we didn’t spend a lot of time on social media reading posts that are 140 characters or less.
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I don’t spend too much time posting on Facebook or Twitter compared to my friends. I usually post about things that are unusual that happen in my daily life or I’ll post a video or song that I like. Each day I spend about 10-20 minutes looking at my friends’ Facebook posts and maybe commenting on one or two. I rarely tweet anything, but I do retweet and follow some of my favorite athletes and people. The only online gaming communication that I’ve ever done it on Call of Duty. I used to play Call of Duty 4 and 5 a lot and I would use my Bluetooth microphone to talk with my friends and to talk to random people that got selected to my team. The type of communication that goes on while playing games is a lot different than face to face conversations. When I’m talking to random people on my team it would usually be talking strategy about the game or just random things like sports, YouTube videos, etc. I wouldn’t really get to know them as much as my actual friends. Also with online games, especially in Call of Duty players on opposing teams would talk a lot of trash and they would say things that they wouldn’t say in real life. The reason this happens is because they can be whoever they want to be behind a microphone, they can act tough and mean, when in reality there a short little kid. The language in Call of Duty is a lot different than the language people use when your playing another game that’s less violent, like LittleBigPlanet or SuperMario.
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ReplyDeleteThe main claim that I can make after analyzing my transcript is that my writing process really depends on my attitude on the subject I’m writing about and how much information I know about it. My writing process changes dramatically based on what I’m writing about; if I don’t know anything about the subject, then my process is a lot longer and more in depth. I do more planning and organizing before I begin writing when I don’t know much about the topic, but when I write about sports or something else I know a lot about, then I do very little brainstorming before I begin writing. I also noticed from my transcript that I would have a few main topics that I knew I was going to talk about, and then after I would write those thoughts out I would struggle to continue writing. I can see this in my transcript because there are more pauses the farther I get into my essay.
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ReplyDeleteI feel that Carr is pretty much right in his article and it made me think about my own experiences with technology, and just like Carr I used to love reading but in my case I find it hard to read a page if something that I don’t find interesting. I also believe that as technology improves and becomes a bigger part of our life which we may think it can’t get any larger in our life but someday it will take over our life and someday we will stop reading and writing because everything will be read and wrote for us. The fact that any information that we want in a quick short summed up answer and can get that information in a matter of seconds on our computer, our phones or even our TV’s now is astonishing and proves that we are becoming lazy because we don’t try hard to look for information. Also when Carr brought up how the internet has alter his mental habits, I can relate because the internet has also changed my mental habits. I personally before I received my smart phone didn’t use the internet much but now I have to read and do everything on my phone or on the internet. Now I can’t go more than an hour without having to check my Facebook or my Twitter, and now you can’t go anywhere without finding something that relates to the internet, like use your smart phone to take a picture of this barcode and get more information on our store. This technology is everywhere and it is making us dumb because people don’t know how to communicate in person or how to go to a library and find out some basic information.
I don’t really update my Facebook status, I will update it about once a week. I usually update it when I have something going on like going to football games or whatever I’m doing that week. I tweet about the same time I update my Facebook status and I post similarly the same. On Twitter I follow my friends and some famous people because I like to get updates on what new projects famous people are working on and what I should look out for. On Facebook I used to have over 1,000 friends but then I thought I don’t know who half of these people are so I am now only friends with roughly 500 people that I know. When I do update my Facebook status and my Twitter status I usually spell everything out and type out whole words because I have gotten into that habit through using my smart phone and its autocorrect, the only thing I don’t type out is lol because it’s weird to see someone type out laugh out loud. I don’t tend to play games that involve online communication. I play Call of Duty but it doesn’t really require communication. The only communication that happens is through a headset by immature 12 year old kids that I put on mute.
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After coding and analyzing my transcript I have realized that Have a horrible writing style and that I tend to write and say what I was writing for the assignment but I would kind of plan for what I wanted to say in the next paragraph start writing and then write it out, but then I wouldn’t like how it sounded and then rewrite the sentence or what I thought sounded odd. Also I do a general plan on the whole essay then do a lot of local planning on each individual paragraph. I would also get distracted every now and then. When I was reading other blogs, I noticed that that the whole fact of having to write and talk was a huge problem.
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ReplyDeleteThe arguments put forth by Nicholas Carr are both interesting and curious. Interesting in the sense that things we use every day such as Google, Facebook, etc is really changing the way we critically think as well as read for comprehension and what kind of reading, writing, and thinking society as a whole is doing today. I feel his ideas are holding up fairly well, especially now with the tablet and smart phone boom that was just beginning when the article was originally written. I feel that the portable access to everything has further supported the arguments of Carr that people are seeking to get information fast and easy. What do smart phones and tablets now do for society? They give people fast updates on anything and every quick and easy, like Carr said the internet is turning into a convenient knowledge source, a source that can now be taken anywhere. I think Carr’s arguments for the most part are dead on. The only section I disagree with him slightly is about reading long articles and feeling unfocused on reading. I don’t really have this problem; I suppose this could line up with the fact that I am a student therefore reading is a necessity and I use motivation to keep focus. Either way, I think the internet is more contributing to society’s lack of comprehension rather than not being focused on a piece of work. Now what is the difference between focus and comprehension, they tend to go hand in hand? Well, I feel that we are focused on the reading, but we are only looking for a few key points and we miss the minute details that really give us a real understanding for what we are reading, or for that matter researching.
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Though I am not a gamer or use computer games causing me to communicate actively through those, I do occasionally use Facebook. For me, Facebook is my way to stay connected to all of my family and friends at home since I am 12 hours away from home. If I don’t have time to call my mom or dad, they can look on Facebook and see what I was up to for the week, not usually day because I don’t post that much, but I usually post once or twice a week. I don’t follow many specific pages on Facebook and I don’t start controversy over my status updates. For example my most exciting one post of last week was about me training with the United States Equestrian Team’s Olympic coach and having a great time. I try not to over use my status update button for the simple reason I don’t want to be that person on Facebook who you scroll down your home page and you know her life story, no one cares about that. I don’t have a Twitter account; I believe that is due to my lack of status updates on Facebook and my lack of caring of what other people are doing with their lives. _____________________________________________________________
After analyzing my transcript I can claim that I absolutely love to talk and write at the same time. I also can claim that I do a lot of thinking and during my think-aloud protocol, I was very good at voicing what I was thinking. I also lack revising techniques, the majority of my think-aloud was me planning, thinking, and writing. Evidence I will use will be my actual think-aloud protocol where one listening can hear me talking and typing literally the entire time as well as my transcript.
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DeleteWhen I first read your statement about losing comprehension, I did not quite agree with what you were saying about not knowing what you were reading but then I understood. And I completely agree that people try to take the shortcut when reading long articles. It is not that we can't read it, it is more that we don't want to so we try to find the quickest and most efficient way to accomplish the reading. We select the information that we pull out and we select the information that we retain without regard to the fullest meaning of the piece.
Delete0119
ReplyDeleteCarr’s argument makes even more sense today. Our generation has grown up with this technology and our development has been greatly affected. There are stronger implications for young people when Carr argues he can’t easily read long pieces of writing. In a digital age children will not have been exposed to long passages; therefore, their academics will suffer when they cannot concentrate on or fully understand these pieces.
The points that Carr makes are still applicable today. Our society has advanced even more technologically since then. Our thinking may be completely controlled by the internet. It is likely that now there is more research to support this claim. I also think since this article was written more people have realized the role technology plays in their lives. I have taken note of the effects the internet has had on me, and I intend to limit them as much as possible. As an academic person, I need to keep working towards my future goals and not worry so much about less important things in the present. Like Carr said in the part about Nietzsche, with new mediums, we process information differently. Nietzsche wrote more like a telegraph and we are writing and reading the same way information appears on the internet. I think this type of writing has influenced me since I began writing seriously because my style today is very concise and has just enough to get to the point. With respect to our brains being malleable, I think it is important to notice how it is not just Millennials that have been changed by recent technological innovations. Our parents and grandparents thinking has changed dramatically as well. My parents don’t watch the news or read physical books anymore; they have the CNN and kindle apps on their iPads. Three out of my four grandparents have Facebook and post more than I do. Carr notices other forms of media becoming like the internet, but I haven’t really noticed this myself. I have noticed how most companies today, not just Google, are trying to affect the way we think by making our everyday actions more efficient. The discussions of artificial intelligence are scary because I feel like everyone’s brain and thinking process is unique and should not be replaced to put everyone on the same level. Like Carr, I am very skeptical about what the internet and other technologies are doing to us.
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The amount of writing I do in digital environments is very limited. I have a Facebook account, but I do not use Twitter or play online games. The most important communication for me is texting and emailing. I send hundreds of text messages per month and must keep up with my UCF email in order to stay informed. On the other hand, Facebook is not really important to me. The last time I posted a status update was August 8, 2011. On my timeline, there are three other status updates besides that one since I made my account in 2009. So far this year, I have not personally posted anything on my own timeline. I mainly have a Facebook to send messages to friends when I can’t contact them otherwise and to keep up with groups like the Ultimate Frisbee team. Like any other Facebook user I enjoy looking at my friend’s pictures and “lurking” people, but I rarely do this, maybe once every two weeks. This shows that I have more important things in my life, like real interactions with people and doing well in school.
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ReplyDeleteI found that my planning process consists of making lists of main topics to include in my essay. Then I would start my analysis of evidence from each point to find out which ones are most effective. I could relate how I evaluated each point in the beginning to how it worked in the end. For evidence, I would see which points were best and compare that to which ones I thought were the best during planning.
I could also analyze in my process essay how I write very recursively. I performed the same actions for almost every paragraph. This could also be seen in the way my essay reads at the end. It may seem very methodically and repetitively organized.
Another important observation was that during the think-aloud protocol I was more focused on the ideas I was writing about, rather than the structure and grammar. This could be proven by the fact that I wrote a more-effectively written essay than I would have produced without the protocol.
I could use all of my blog posts as more evidence of my organization and planning techniques. Since I was more aware of my structure and audience in the blog posts I don’t think I could use them for evidence of how my ideas were the most important. On the other hand, they could show how my process was different because of my greater awareness of audience.
0M08
ReplyDeleteI’m not going to lie, reading this article kind of scared me a little bit. I could see parallels to my life today even thought the article was written a couple years ago. I find myself trying skin articles that are more than a paragraph long. It literally takes me forcing myself to read every word to get through it. This behavior strikes me as odd, because when it comes to books I can sit in a room for hours with a book and read it from cover to cover and not move a muscle and be just fine. When it comes to reading online my attention span significantly shortens. I think that this topic is very relevant, nobody today wants to sit in front of a computer and read a long drawn out account of an election or breaking news, people today want the who , what ,when and where and that’s it. I even have it to where breaking new from the news station back home in Tampa is text to my phone, so when something happens I get all the info in the convenience of a 160 character message. Convenience is the new currency, its so weird to think about but if I have to wait longer than two seconds for something online I immediately become annoyed and usually just give up on the task and put it off until later and we are just talking about two seconds. I think that this is a problem that is going to worse, which is good for big business but bad for the American population. Business thrives on us having short attention spans, the shorter it is the more of their advertisements that they can disburse through different webpages. Reading this article made me realize how dependent I am on the internet, I think if it was taken away for a day I wouldn’t know how to function or I would go completely insane. The article itself sites scholarly people having troubles sittign down to read a book because they don’t have the attention span for it anymore because the internet is so instant and there is no time of wondering, within two seconds you have your answer. However I feel that these advancements aren’t all bad, Maryanne Wolf states that the Internet has not only changed what we read but how we read. I find that I am able to find the important details in text faster the more articles I read online, on the other hand she does credit the internet for the lack of deep thinking and inhibiting the ability to be able to understand deeper information. One question that is left lingering with me is the case of Neitzsche, I wonder if it really true that composing on a computer changes the content of the work?
0M08 part 2
ReplyDeleteI must confess that I am a complete and udder twitter addict, I send more tweets out a day than I would care to admit. For this assignment and I actually went back over my tweets since I started college and the funny thing is that none of them are that insightful or contain anything of real substance. Most of them are tweets about a new song I heard or a food I tried. I use my twitter mostly to feed my love knowing. I am really into music so I follow all my favorite artist and with twitter I am allowed to see what they are doing in sort of real time, yes I know that this is considered borderline stalking. Analyzing my tweets from the past couple months and the past couple years I have seen that there is sort of a language to it. It is weird that you would never think of them as special terms until you are forced to look from the outside. With different artist I follow certain words will mean something that is completely different what they actually mean if you were to look them in a dictionary. It is sort of like a code that you learn the longer that you are in the twitter game. Twitter is also another source of how I get information; local news stations post the news about virtually everything on their twitter pages. It is becoming a new means of communication. Most every major organization I can think of has a twitter; even one of my professors has a twitter. It is a quick and easy way to dispense information.
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Upon analyzing my transcript from my writing process I found out that I really don’t edit that much when I am doing my first draft, most of the draft was simply dictating what I was going to write. Another common thing that I noticed in my transcript is that when I am in the middle of an idea I repeat words over and over again. From my blog responses I think that there is evidence that I often dictate first what I am going to write because my tone is quite conversational when I am writing, which is a weakness that takes away from the professionalism of the overall piece. I also noticed that I seem to pause a lot when I am writing and that there were only a couple times that I stopped to comment about the work I had just done. I think that this exercise really opened my eyes to see how my composing process works and ways to improve it for it to be more effective in the future.
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ReplyDeleteOM08
ReplyDeleteCarr’s reading pointed out a lot of good arguments. The argument that Carr made that I thought was very relevant was when he talks about over the past years how it’s becoming difficult for him to read. Carr explains that his concentration has declined when he reads. He states that his mind begins to drift off after reading a few pages. His lack of concentration causes him to lose focus and he struggles to get his brain to focus on the text. Carr believes that this is due to the internet. People don’t spend long hours in the library reading books anymore. It all takes place typing in words on Google to find information we need. Therefore deep reading doesn’t take place much anymore and that why today people have a hard time reading and staying focused. I find this argument very relevant to today because when it comes to reading it’s very difficult to stay focused without drifting off into space. I find myself rereading things over and over because my brain is reading the text but not processing it to where I can comprehend what I’m reading. Also Carr’s argument about the Internet changing mental habits is very relatable. Carr discusses in this argument that when people research things on Internet they don’t read the whole article or story they skim the information until they find what they need. He believes that this is why people have difficulty reading a lot of information because our brains are being reprogrammed to skim information instead of taking the time out to deep read. Computer seems to be making people in this generation lazier. The use of power browsing and the skimming activity which is just browsing through things on the internet to find what you’re looking for is winning people over and the traditional sense is slowly fading away.
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When it comes to Facebook I usually post something once a day at the end of my day kind of describe how my day was or how I am feeling at the moment or sometimes I use it as a conversation starter. The types of things that lead to me posting a status are things that aren’t ordinary that occur to me. I use Twitter to do all my random tweeting about my thoughts on different things or people. I also tweet to people that are posting something that I can relate to. I use Twitter to express myself more so it’s kind like a blog. On Twitter I follow my favorite celebrities and friends. On Facebook I just follow my friends.
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After coding my transcript I realized that my writing process is very simple. I usually just free write. I never draft before writing. I think of a few ideas and tie them into my thesis statement. From there I develop my paragraphs and provide personal details that relate to my topics. Whenever I get stuff I tend not to dwell on it but move on to something new then come back and add in whatever I feel is missing. I noticed that I write by certain rules and that is to always open with an introduction and state my thesis then after I have done that I can go on with my body paragraphs. Looking back at my post from week three and four I noticed that the trend in my writing process is the same. Even though I didn’t need a certain amount of topics I kept it at three for pretty much everything. I used three major details or three arguments whenever I was asked to refer back to my readings.
Blake Anderson 0119
ReplyDeleteCarr’s main arguments that throughout time and the development of technology, a person’s ability to read and focus on long pieces of writing will dwindle and the manner in which they think obtain and withhold knowledge will change as well. More specifically, the World Wide Web is a database of terabytes upon terabytes of information that is accessible to virtually any human being who has the means to obtain it. This information, being so readily available, is constructed and presented and acquired in a very distinct and in a way signature manner. Carr focuses her argument a lot on the use of the Internet search engine known as Google. One simple search on this site will result in dozens upon hundreds of redirected links that relate to the item searched. With so much information, one can simply scan through multiple journal entries, newspapers and articles to acquire as much information as they can. However, this information is read in small quick bits; the reader loses faith in on information source once he or she does not immediately find what they are searching for. Not only does research back these conclusions up, but my personal experience does as well. As a growing student, I have had multiple assignments that require information of which I do not have. The easiest way of finding this information is to “Google it”. This practice has become so socially common that the noun Google is accepted as a verb when one says “Just Google it”. Carr’s studies were done almost a decade ago and back then, they were known as studies or predictions just as he states Socrates’ predictions were, but today these “predications” are common sense; everyone is aware that when we needs to answer for something, we find the closest smart phone or internet source and simply look it up. As a recent high school graduate, my teachers would give me assignments and they would limit our sources to three, per say, online sources. I was forced to find a book or article that pertained to the subject because my teachers knew that the easiest way to accomplish this task it’s to find all of my information directly from the internet. Carr’s other correlated argument is that this way of research affects the way we talk, write, and even think. This argument may not be as literal as saying we think in short bursts of information and if it is not what we need to solve a problem or whatever it may be that we are doing, then we shoot of another neuron burst, but it definitely can be perceived as a lack of attention and lack of memorable circumstances. To me, Carr’s prediction almost pathed the way for the result of future development of technology, after all, where was it that we all read his article from?
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ReplyDeleteAlmost every day in typical conversation, the subject of Facebook, Twitter or some other online social media is talked about. As a teenager this subject is even more prominent. My generation is the first to grow up with a vast expansion of technology that is even more rapidly expanding; our lives are enveloped with social media and network that it is almost impossible to escape. One such as myself can choose to not participate in such activities but I have not yet been able to avoid it all together. The realm of social networking, as one could call it, was completely irrelevant to me until about 2 years ago when I was forced to create a Facebook due to a leadership position that required one. Even to this day after receiving multiple invitations to events and wall posting, I am still not an avid user of Facebook, let alone Twitter, something of which I do not have. I’ll admit I am a regular on the picture posting network called Instagram but I have come to notice that I am more of a looker than a poster. Do not get me wrong though, I may not be a social networking junkie, but my literacy and text in related very much so to digital technology. Growing up I have become very accustomed to video games and the sort of lingo that is used within them. Starting off with games such as Runescape and WarCraft, I noticed that abbreviations and words are created for almost every different game to make playing and communication simpler. As time passed, these games got boring and I moved on to others, once again having to learn new lingo. These new words that I learned often arrived in common everyday conversation because not only did I play these games, so did my tightly knit group of friends. We would converse and occasionally the topic of these games would arise and the words were in commonplace. Throughout the years, my skills as a typist also developed since communications was so necessary on these online games. As an optimist I look at this is a positive way and if you mold these experiences the way you wish, I could say that I speak a different language per say. Not many people realize that there is more digital communication out there other than common social networks, but in my individual experience, gaming and online activity has unbeatably influenced my writing and digital communication more than anything else.
ReplyDeleteThe Think-aloud Protocol process was actually nothing of what I expected. As I began my rough draft, I used my Literacy Profile as an outline or a pre-rough draft. This led this assignment to, in a way, be a revision process all together. My main focus of the Think-aloud Protocol, as I listened to it again, seemed to be the experience overall and the things that my Literacy Profile made me realize. They was I wrote and conducted myself was influenced a lot by the fact that I was recording myself and this alone was an assignment. I started my Protocol by stating that I was skeptical of how this will end but I think it turned out much better than I anticipated. I have always known that I focus on both format and content of my writings but now that I have said it to myself and I was forced to look deeper into it, I came to an understanding of what I truly do. I focus a lot of my word choice and structure of my essay to have the greatest potential of getting my point across. I have always written my essays and every now and then I would go back over and correct them, if Microsoft Word hasn’t done it already. This experience of me actually speaking of a listening to, for lack of better words, my brain work made me truly contemplate how I composed and conducted my writings. Evidence from other blog posting is extremely prevalent. In all other posting I try my best to answer all parts of the question and I structure my writings both through paying attention to content and format. My writing process is easier to analyze during the times that I write instead of after due to the atmosphere that I write in but either way, re reading the transcript definitely opened a lot of doors about my writings process and it certainly influenced my Literacy Narrative.
ReplyDeleteTravis Badall - 0037
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with Carr's arguments that technology is changing the way people think. It seems everyone is becoming more impatient and demands instant gratification. It's becoming more and more evident, especially as time goes on. If a web page is taking longer than a few seconds to load, people start complaining out how slow their computer is going. They don't even stop to think about how fast their computer is actually going compared to let say, a decade ago, where we had to wait a couple minutes on dial-up, just to connect to the internet. In addition, improvements in technology, as Carr has mentioned, makes people lazier (he doesn't say it directly, but it's implied). Any time students hear that they have work to do, they start moaning and groaning about it. Trust me, I've been in that situation a few times, but it hasn't gotten to the point where I complain every single time I hear the I have to do work. Overall, Carr makes lots of good points on how technology has changed the cognitive processes and I agree with his arguments.
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I don't post statuses on Facebook way too often. Usually when I do, it pertains to important events, achievements, or less frequently, if I had an awesome time with friends, I'll post something relevant to that. But other than that, I just usually browse other people's posts and "like" anything that I find interesting. As far as texting goes, I usually type out complete sentences using correct spelling and grammar. The only text lingo that I use is "lol" and i also usually use smiley faces to help depict emotion in text. I honestly think it takes me longer to comprehend some texts that use way too much text lingo, so I tend to prevent myself from doing that. As far as gaming goes, I usually play Call of Duty games on Xbox for recreation. I used to play very seriously a couple years ago, and I used to get angry when I died and even cursed out people every now and then. Yeahh, I was one of the those people, haha. But I look back on it now, and now I think people making fun of each other or get mad at each other over Xbox Live (or any digital media for the matter) is just dumb. It's just a game and they should just get over themselves.
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Doing the talk-aloud protocol allowed me to realize a few things about my writing process. I've noticed that I tend to stop a lot to correct to ensure that my paragraph flows well. I also stop a lot to change certain words, not necessarily because the word doesn't fit there, but because I want to have some variations in my vocabulary. Another thing I notice about my transcription is that there are moments where I stop and think about how I should organize my paper. I think about what I should write next, what details I can use to support that, how it's going to look overall, etc. I do all of this while writing my paper so I have to make less revisions when I get to the end and proofread my paper.
0M08
DeleteI commend you for being able to escape the tight grasp of social media. In the third part of your response I noticed that that we take a similar approach. My thinking process about what I am going to write that way I prevent making more mistakes than necessary when it actually comes to writing. You brought up another valid point in your first argument about being lazier, I myself find that as soon as an assignment is assigned I immediately start thinking of ways to start dodging it instead of facing it head on.
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ReplyDeleteCarr's argument that new technology is changing the mind seems pretty valid back when he published it and even more so now. Being able to search for what information you need with just a few keywords has made society lazy in their literacy. If a person doesn't have to read an entire biography or maybe a whole documentary to find small pieces of information on the subject they are studying, then why would they? Search engines have made it extremely easy to find exactly what is needed or at least direct you to a place where it might be. Now, people only have to skim through an article that they found through google to get the quote they needed instead of reading the actual book the quote would be in. This has changed how a person thinks and reads. Most that do not read anymore for entertainment, but read to learn can not focus on long articles or whole novels. They just want the information they need and therefore can't get deep into a piece of work and enjoy the author's intentions of it when he/she wrote the book. This is sad because most are missing out on not only having a higher level of thinking, but the chance to read some really amazing pieces of work.
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There are many different online digital spaces that people communicate through, such as video games, twitter, and MySpace. I personally use Facebook and Instagram. I am drifting away from Facebook because many people don't use it a much so there's nothing to see on your news feed now except advertisements or promotions. When it was more popular, before twitter arose, I would add all the people I was at school with, old friends from elementary school, and family members. Sometimes I would add "mutual" friends to get to know more people. I would usually post a status at least 5-6 times a week, but my friends would post at least twice a day. I was never really into Facebook like most of my peers were, but when I did find the need to post a status it was when I was experiencing something new, if something extremely funny happened that I felt I had to share, or to inform people of something going on; For example I'd post "vote for me for homecoming duchess."
My new digital space is Instagram. It's a social network where you just post pictures and people can like or comment on your pictures. This communication isn't as literate as Facebook, but I use it more to show people what I am doing rather than tell them. I follow my friends, highschool acquaintances, and popular figures (celebrities). I post pictures as often as 4-5 times a week. It would increase if I was going out with my friends, on vacation, or during a special event like birthdays and holidays. If it is just an ordinary day I will post pictures of things I think that look cool or interesting and I know I will get a lot of likes. "A picture is worth a thousand words." Therefore Instagram is communication through pictures and you really get an insight on a persons life, but really just an insight of what they want you to see.
Jayda Burkhardt
I love how you mentioned intsagram on this... I totally forgot about instagram when I was posting my response last night. I share the same opinions with you when it comes to instagram! I feel like instagram is a way to communicate and share with your friends and family but is also like facebook in the way that it is just what people want you to see.
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ReplyDeletecontinued...
After coding and analyzing my think aloud protocol, I have reflected on a few things... I noticed that through out my protocol I was repeating/rephrasing my main idea and then I would follow with personal experiences to show my point. I tried to relate myself to my piece of writing. I mainly talked about my ideas rather than saying exactly what I was doing in my writing. I should have focused more on vocalizing my editing and how I wrote my narrative.
This experiences showed me that my writing process is pretty basic. I get all my ideas out that would prove my point in forms of sentences or whole paragraphs. They were in no specific order until everything was out. Then I would read through my narrative as it was and rearrange paragraphs and edit to make it flow. This is very obvious in my literacy narrative. The paragraphs were all created from a basic idea and then rearranged to create my essay. Although this process doesn't seem very productive or helpful, I get what I want on the paper and in the end my piece of work is complete and well done.
Jayda Burkhardt
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ReplyDeleteIn his article “Is Google making us stupid?” Nicholas Carr presents a strong argument regarding the way in which the internet has changed not only what we read but how we read. He supports his claims with outside sources increasing his credibility as an author. Reading the article, I found a lot of connections between the points discussed and the life we are living in the 21st century. Although the article was published in 2008, about four years ago, I believe the arguments are still true today. I am not the only college student who finds it hard to concentrate on long articles, books or novels. I will admit that I got distracted various times reading this article too, which is ironic. In his fourth paragraph, Carr says that “what the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation”, which is often the case when we are assigned to read lengthy pieces of literature or just a few chapters for an upcoming test. Students often skim through readings because they feel they are too long. This is frequently seen in high school as well. Young people today find the internet and Google to be a necessity. I agree that it is making us lazy. Seeing students go to a library to read or check out a book is not so common anymore. Google provides us with all the information we are looking for. Sitting down and having a physical book to read is often better than surfing the net, but most people today think otherwise. Carr also discusses that our brains can alter the way they function, and I believe that with the use of the internet, our thinking process has changed affecting our writing process as well. In addition, I find interesting the argument about time and the way time made us think differently from the "old reality". We now pay close attention to time in our everyday lives. An example of time and writing that I can think of at my age is writing for standardized tests. In the SAT, ACT, and FCAT, for example, we are given a specific amount of time to write an essay. Time is restricting and pressures us to write faster rather than focus on the quality of our work. We want to do our best in the time given, forgetting that the content of what we're wrting is more important than finishing our entire essay. I believe this is a great example of the metaphor of time connecting with our writing today, especially at the high school and college levels.
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Most people today have a Facebook account and I am no exception. I often check my Facebook to communicate with old and new friends, look through their pictures, and leave comments. I do not update my status frequently, only when something exciting is going on or when I feel that I truly have to share something with my friends, or even those people I add who are not my friends in real life. I tend to "like" other people's posts and pictures more than I post things myself. Facebook is a huge distraction when completing assignments online. It is impossible to say that you are going to go on Facebook for just a couple of minutes because you will always spend more time there than you planned. In this sense, having an actual book is more beneficial to reading online. Scrolling down the page, it is evident that language has changed. Few people use formal language when writing on Facebook. I admire those who do, and typically ignore the ones who write using weird abbreviations along with a mixture of numbers and letters. I do not play games online but I know people who do have their own way of communicating. Furthermore, texting produces the same effect as Facebook. With people not using propper grammar, their writing process is affected, as it becomes more difficult to write formally.
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After analyzing my transcript, I found that I spend a lot of time brainstorming before I write anything down. During my 20-minute recording I spoke more about the ideas I had and how I planned to organize them rather than writing anything on the paper. According to my codes, a lot of planning took place during my writing. As I was writing, I would read aloud as I wrote. This helped me make sure that the sentences made sense. The only problem when speaking and writing is that our writing is more formal than having a conversation. Therefore, editing for grammar and sentence structure becomes important. However, since I was writing the first draft of the literacy narrative, I did not worry about editing a lot. In a first draft, I pay more attention to the content and getting my message across, which in this case was my own story about literacy experiences. In addition, since this paper was about my own story, it was fairly easy. When a topic requires further research and more critical thinking, the writing process changes as we stop to look for information or we simply get distracted because the topic is not as interesting.
0119
ReplyDeleteCarr's argument about technology is extremely spot on. As technology develops more and more, society's ability and patience to read decreases. Even though its from 2 years ago, the argument is still completely valid. The more the internet develops, the quicker and easier it becomes to find things we would like to know. This therefore makes us less patient. Now a days there is a lot more research on this topic. The role technology plays in todays day and age is integral part of almost everyone's daily life. Almost every single job requires employees to do something with the internet. Most research is now done on the internet instead of the library, proving Carr's point even more. Now a days more people text than actual face to face conversations. I was at dinner the other night, and the table next to us was texting each other instead of actually talking.
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I am constantly on facebook and twitter. I post tweets and facebook statuses so much that it's basically become a part of my daily life. I post facebook statuses at least 10 times a day and i tweet the same amount. I constantly check twitter and facebook. It's gotten to a point where I just take out my phone to check facebook or twitter. I also send hundreds of texts daily and it's at a point where instead of talking to my friends at dinner, I just sat there and texted the whole time. I've realized that I am becoming obsessed with technology. I also play video games every once in a while. When I do, I play either sports games or shooting games that require communication amongst a team. I communicate through a headset and it helps us strategize. I've realized that technology has become an integral part of my every day life.
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I've realized that during my writing process I get very distracted. During my writing process, there are so many pauses because of Facebook, twitter, music, video games, youtube, tv, etc. I also stopped talking during my protocol to process my thoughts in my mind. I think a lot more clearly when I only think in my head. Talking out loud slows down my thought process. I also ask myself a lot of questions. I think about every sentence I write before I write the next one, then I check over each paragraph. Then I read over my entire paper and make sure it's good. I try my best to get my point across. And unless I'm told a topic to write about, it's very hard for me to think of a topic along with points that support it. The think aloud protocol really showed me how my writing process works.
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ReplyDeleteI have never thought of media being as controlling as it is before I read Carr's article. I fully argree with the statement about how people use the internet purposely to not have to read a physical book. I know that I use the internet all of the time for research and basically everything else. Google is my homepage and I'm not kidding; that's how often I use it. I, also, don't spend a lot of time reading an article. Honestly, I skimmed through the article that was talking about skimming through articles. That's how serious it is! Carr's point just makes so much sense, but I don't think it's the worst thing because it does help us when we need to know information quickly. If he thinks that it's a terrible phenomenon he had better gather up some people and act quickly because the kids in this generation were basically born knowing how to "Google" anything.
I can't really do this section because I don't have a Facebook or a Twitter account, and I don't play online video games. If texting counts as digital commuication, then I'll say that I seriously only text about 10 people. I'm not obsessed with it, so I don't text everybody all the time.
My writing process is not completely how I'd like it to be. It's kind of scattered all over the place. I don't organize well; I write my personal experiences and stories and then I try to sort them out and put similar parts into same sections. I, also, noticed that I get distracted and elaborate on a certain question where it may not be necessary.
Through analyzing the argument proposed by Nicholas Carr in his article, Is Google Making Us Stupid?, I have come to the consensus that his main overall point is,without a doubt, evident in today's society. I found one of his most moving and influential appeals in the concluding line of the article when he stated “as we come to rely on computers to mediate our understanding of the world, it is our own intelligence that flattens into artificial intelligence.” Although there are many people that use the benefits of computers to the best of their advantage, there are now many people that have become lackadaisical in the process of attaining new knowledge. They resort to computers as their primary source of information because they are able to seek the deeper meanings of information at the click of a button. The problem that arises with this concept is that often times what is read on the internet isn't from accredited sources but from the interpretations of random individuals lacking credentials. So, if people are ill-informed on who or what to believe, they will often find themselves will falsifying information on a topic. In retrospect, not everything that is placed on the internet is garbage. There are many sources that are secure in communicating there information and ideas. Although Carr did concede some of the newly attributed benefits of the Web, I feel as if he didn't give it enough credit. He was more focused on how much it was “flattening” our knowledge as appose to the positives and what the internet has made possible. I agree that the internet has had a tamper on the minds of the newer generations, but in its defense it has provided us with a technology that has advanced our societie's capabilities to an entirely new level.
ReplyDeleteAfter considering and evaluating my different means of communication through social networking I realized that I am loosely involved compared to most. Most of time I am busy with school, sports, or work but when I do have a minute I enjoy going Facebook and Twitter to keep up with what's going on with my friends and family. As far as status updates or tweets, I tend to focus on the more important highlights of my life. However, on twitter I will occasionally acknowledge something that I find funny, a life applicable situation, or something I want people to know. I'm definitely not in the category of people that feels entitled to keep the world updated with their every waking moment. Ultimately, I feel like social networking is a good way to keep in touch with people but it definitely has taken away from the art of conversation. People have seem to lost the ability of talking face to face as well as they use too. This why when I tend to speak in complete sentences when ever I use digital communication. In terms of online gaming, I'm fortunate to say that I don't have enough time in a day to waste a moment of it sitting in front of a computer screen playing bizarre games.
In terms of the third part of the blog I will be needing a little further assistance in encoding my transcription with the fact that I was out sick for our last class meeting. I find it hard to give an accurate feedback on this portion of the blog.
The opinions Nicholas Carr conveys in his writings are somewhat afflicting and completely true in my eyes. We can all be found guilty in the issue of using the internet for quick information, rather than taking the time to read a book, story, or article on our own to get the information we need. “The way people think has changed, not the way we read” was a comment made by Scott Karp, which I agreed with fully. I read well and I would absolutely love to sit down and read a book that I enjoy, but as the author wrote, there are too many distractions to concentrate on my reading. It’s so much easier to get on the internet and find the summary of the book instead of enjoy the journey of reading the whole story. Especially in this society of having everything given to you as soon as you want it, laziness is specifically prominent in reading, just because the internet is so handy and easily available to “cheat” with.
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Although Facebook and Twitter are quite distracting and easily addicting, I try to be reasonable with the amount of social media I surround my life around. I honestly do use most of my extra time on social media and of course I could be doing something better with my life like reading or whatnot, but somehow I can’t help it! The reasoning behind it all is I’m quite nosy and too into my friend’s details and gossip. I enjoy keeping in touch with friends and distant relatives, but I know I shouldn’t use it as often as I do. I only update my statuses when something funny happen and I know my friends would “get a kick” out of my dramatic explanation of what had happened. Especially being away from family now that I’m in college, it is easier to talk through the internet and seeing what everyone else is doing through pictures and statuses; I don’t feel as much out of the loop as I would without a facebook to “lurk” my brothers and parents.
-Gille, 0037
In Carr’s “Is Google Making Us Stupid? What the Internet is doing to our Brains,” he argues that the growing influences of the internet are showing progressively alarming changes in our thought process. Because we have become increasingly dependent on the speed and efficiency at which we receive information, argues Carr, we are less able of deeply reading into something and interpreting it. Many of the anecdotes he supplies in his piece about losing focus, skimming rather than reading through an article, directly reflected my own experiences. When researching, I don’t typically sit through every page I visit and read all of the articles posted. Instead, my only priorities consist of looking for a specific fact and leaving the site for another one. Carr also presented arguments addressing the association we use between our way of thinking and technology. As our access to more information increases, our own thought process becomes like that of the technology, as the technology itself replaces us. I think what he was trying to say with this point is that we are losing our ability to think for ourselves as we become overly dependent on artificial intelligence. Again, this is very easily seen today; the widely recognized saying “Google it,” has become so colloquial that I don’t know that I have gone one day without hearing it. Even when I need information for an assignment, I tend to opt for the search engine over other resources like books, periodicals, and encyclopedias.
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When it comes to social media, I don’t tend to engage in the contemporary actions we see in, say, Facebook or Twitter. In fact, I don’t have a Twitter and I only occasionally sign in to my Facebook (well, “occasionally” by today’s standards). Going back and looking over the Facebook posts I did make, I noticed that I would only make a post in response to someone else or if it was of significance (i.e., I made a post several months ago announcing my upcoming high school graduation and the college I would be attending). When I do post, I do relax my grammatical correctness a little (occasionally skipping a comma) but I still try to avoid overusing abbreviations and misspellings. Regardless of whether or not it is just friends and family who see these posts or messages, I still want it to look and sound presentable. I also worry that if I get in the habit of doing this, it will show in the way I speak and write in a professional setting. Generally, I don’t use these sites to inform everyone about everything that I do throughout the day (scanning through my own news feed, I noticed that someone posted that they woke up, another that they were waiting for pizza to be delivered, and another that made periodic postings as they were watching Star Wars). I find that these sites can be very time-consuming and distracting, especially once school starts. So, I try to limit my use to occasional conversations with friends and family.
I'd have to agree with you on the social media sites. I no longer engage in Facebook anymore but any posts I did make were like yours: that I graduated and where I plan on attending college. When I would post statuses they were usually relaxed, not too focused on grammatical errors but at the same time I often tried to be correct so no one could comment and correct me. Like you stated about the random postings, that was probably why I deleted it in the first place. I fund it time consuming and I honestly didn't care or want to know what everyone was doing at every minute of the day or where they were. Thats just too much information to have floating about. I don't trust the internet and try not to post any personal information.
Delete0M08
ReplyDeleteAfter analyzing my think-aloud transcript, I noticed that I leaned away from changing my content too much and did not have very much heavy editing. I also noticed that I had a little bit of a system to my writing that I had never realized before. Typically, I would briefly brainstorm, write, and review in that order for each point or section of my writing. During writing, one idea would stem from another an so on. Whereas I assumed before that I wrote aimlessly, I now see that I have actually produced my own system for writing that has become so ingrained in me that I had not noticed it until this assignment. I also noticed that during the times I would edit, I would not fix it then but instead, come back to it later. I marked on my protocol that I noted an error rather than fixed it. As I read over my posts from the past few weeks, I noticed some order in my responses.
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ReplyDeleteI found that Carr’s article a bit ironic. As I read through the piece I did, as he said, being to drift focus. I focused intently on the piece at the beginning but as I moved my way through it I would find myself skimming paragraphs, having to go back and reread a section that I’ve already read but not really understood. That, in itself, is evidence to back up some of Carr’s claims. Our thought processes are indeed changing because of the type of interactions we experience through the Net. We are acclimated to small snippets of information because of sites like Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter, which actually force you to minimize your thoughts to fit into a certain amount of characters. It’s something we’re used to, so being faced with a large, academic, thought-provoking reading is a bit daunting. We have to stretch our attention thinner to absorb less information, which is a bit worrisome.
Carr spoke about Nietzche’s experience with transitioning from writing with a pen and paper to transcribing his thoughts through a typewriter and the difference in the products. I can relate to that difference. When I type, my thoughts seem to flow more naturally than when I am writing with a pen. I’m able to get my thoughts out faster and more accurately on a computer. When I write with a pen and paper I find that it takes me longer to begin writing and the writing is usually poorer quality.
I think Carr raises some good points that we should take a moment to consider, particularly this idea that our want for definite, immediate answers is attempting to rid the human mind of what truly makes it wonderful, room for innovation and consideration. Carr mentioned that our Net warped minds are trying to get rid of ambiguity in the mind, which is a dangerous thing. If we always have an answer for everything we close our minds to new possibilities and new ideas.
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Ever since making a Tumblr account about two years ago the amount of time I spend on Facebook has plummeted. I update my Facebook statuses once or twice in one week, usually only when I am feeling a bit emotional.
Communication on Tumblr is very different from communication on other sites, and it’s rather difficult to explain. Communication involves the use of half phrases and pictures and gifs to show specific reactions to certain posts. It’s all rather fun, saving .GIF files and using them as whenever you want to display a certain emotion. Tumblr is a lot more laid back than other networking sites because you run your own blog. However, it’s not all fun and games. There are some very professional blogs on Tumblr as well. I find that there’s a little bit of everything there, and communicating between them all requires an understanding of rhetoric and a healthy dose of sarcasm. Otherwise, people drive themselves mad.
Interacting with other people on Tumblr has actually bettered my own satire writing, which is a bit surprising since I’ve just learned from observing, which usually doesn’t work for me.
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I noticed a pattern in the way I set up and address different points. I tend to make my point and then repeat it different ways in one paragraph. After repeating the point a few times, I give an example that allows better understanding of my original point. When I went to craft my essay I would pull the reworded point that I liked the best and use that to begin my paragraphs. I also constantly spoke. There were very few points of actual silence.
At the beginning of the think aloud protocol I would try to write and think at the same time, but I ended up getting fed up with that. I stopped writing completely and just spoke.
Kristy Fudge 0119
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This week, as I was sitting in my dorm, getting ready to read this week’s reading, I first checked my Facebook notifications and watched a couple YouTube videos. After all was said and done and I finally got tucked into my bed and started to read I noticed the irony in the fact that I was just using the internet. Thinking about Carr’s piece, made me think about my own life in regards to the internet. Society runs on technology now, and it is no longer a privilege for making simple tasks run smoother, but rather a NEED in today’s world. Everyone reading my post can agree it has become a NEED… if you think about it (you as being anyone reading this) how many times do you check your iPhone to see the time or if you got anything, even if it didn’t go off? If you leave your phone behind, do you almost feel naked or disconnected from the world? What about the internet? What would you do if Google answers wasn’t there to save your ass while trying to bull shit your homework and papers? What about Dictionary.com? Thesaraus.com? Wolframalpha.com? What about using GPS on your phone rather than actually looking your destination up on a map? Carr is absolutely right, we are honestly become dumber as individuals because of this dependence on machine to do our burdens for us. Although there is much negative to technology, I feel as if the negative comes from a positive intention. Without this technology we as a society couldn’t share information nearly as fast, connect all together as a community, nor could we be as efficient or accurate with running businesses or learning. Information is changing all the time and can be updated on the internet, while it cannot be updated in books without being reprinted and rewritten. The internet allows its users to gain knowledge and information in ways so fast that neither books nor newspapers could even compare to. Most of us don’t even have to read the paper anymore, we can just simply Google the news that we would like to read about. I feel as if the negative comes out due to human kind’s natural innate laziness that has always been there and the internet is just a tool that allows us to be lazy.
0M08
ReplyDeleteWhile considering the arguments put forth by Nicholas Carr, I found I mostly agreed with him. I also think that what he argues is still relevant in this time. The way we read now is very different from 60 years ago, even though it may be the same time. We're kind of alike in the fact that he has a hard time reading more than two pages. I believe we can thank the internet for that. It shares with us so much and can shorten any lengthy writing and get right to the point. Granted this generation is getting lazier and lazier, but the internet is not all to blame for that. It's also a resourceful tool we all use daily to function. We carry it in our pockets, at home, nowadays you can find it almost everywhere you go. Instead of going to libraries to do the research it's now provided on many websites all over the browser. This is where "power browsing" comes in. We read over things but not thoroughly, and grasp as much information from each page. So his argument isn't totally fair, saying the internet is bad, because it has made a lot of good change as well.
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I honestly can say I don't post for online digital spaces. I deleted my Facebook account several months ago, and I only have twitter, which I don't use unless mentioned by a friend. If I post something on twitter its usually song lyrics or seeing how my friends are. The only people I follow are friends of mine. I never wanted twitter but i got talked into it. I also do not play online games, I'm more of an outside, personal interaction type of girl.
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After analyzing my script I found I follow the order almost to the key. The first three about planning are my immediate responses. Afterwords the talking before and after, the backspacing, thinking aloud, rereading, all intertwine throughout my writing process. I noticed i reread a lot and backspace, because something may not fit as well as I thought. Most of the other scripts followed the coding as well and included many aspects as mine.
0119
ReplyDeleteAs opposed to the argument expressed by Nicholas Carr, I do not believe that Google is making us stupid. The Internet search engine Google makes information easy to find, quick to release, and simple. Many people, adults and children alike, use Google everyday simply because it is the fastest method to find what we are looking for. However, Nicholas Carr is not completely wrong in his theory; actually most of what he says is true. In his essay, Carr presents the issue about humankind taking technology too far past its limits, such as taking a simple and efficient search engine like Google and changing it to artificial intelligence. He even says that in Google’s mind “the human brain is just an outdated computer that needs a faster processor and a bigger hard drive.” This is where we should draw the line. The human mind is the creator of intelligence, it should never be outdated and replaced. Carr talks about Socrates’ prediction that writing would take over for knowledge becoming true, but what he did not question is whether or not this is really a bad thing. Now I’m not saying that this is true, in fact I do not believe it’s true in the slightest, but writing leads to transcribed knowledge; because of writing we will not forget the past since it is written in numerous amounts of books. As I read the article I noticed that Carr respected the efficiency that erupted from Frederick Winslow Taylor’s experiment in the Midvale Steel plant in Philadelphia but did not respect the same efficiency when it is applied to technology. Just like Taylor’s experiment, efficiency is at the heart of Google’s database. The reason that so many people used Taylor’s method is the same reason so many people use Google at any given moment: because it is efficient. I found Carr’s argument to have some solid points, but it was also contradicting, making parts of it invalid to the modern world.
I do not use Twitter, and I rarely post on Facebook unless I feel that something important has happened. Most of the writing I do today is texting, and as Carr said it creates a different way of how I read and how I write. I find that a lot of the time I write I subconsciously abbreviate words, often relying on spell check to fix them for me. Unfortunately there is no spell check in with pen and paper so proper grammar isn’t exactly my best quality and I doubt I am alone in that situation. Honestly, I don’t like the way a lot of people talk when they text; a conversation cannot be held with one word answers and I feel like sometimes texting with short, boring answers can make people non sociable, often not speaking to others as much as they would before texting. Also, communication has seized a very important role in most competitive video games nowadays. From pure fun to competitive gaming, communication has become a vital object in winning a game. However, the terminology used in gaming is not used is the everyday English language. For example, common video game terms include nerfed, buffed, and OP, but there is also game specific language (such as smurf and updated) that only apply to certain games. I played a lot of video games when I grew up, so to me learning a new term is like a football player learning a new play from his coach: though you may know what the term means, not everybody else will.
0119 part 2
ReplyDeleteAfter coding my think aloud protocol, I realized that I was a lot less nervous when I started talking to my computer as someone was actually listening. I felt crazy talking to myself, so speaking like there was an actual audience helped my overcome my nervousness and eased my mind so that it could release a steady flow of thoughts. It seems that this would be different for most people, and to be honest at first I thought that it would be the worst thing ever if someone was listening to my protocol. I was very surprised to find out this was not the case. I also learned that I write better when I am in a rush, at least more fluently. When I take my time I make too many mistakes and have to backtrack too much for my liking. However, when I am rushing a paper I feel more at ease. I imagine this is also not the case for most people. As I’ve come to understand, most people tend to crack under pressure and run into writer’s block, so I found it very peculiar that this was not the case for me.
When I go online and see acronyms such as lol it really bothers me. It makes me think that you are lazy. Also poor grammar makes me sick. People should know the difference between your and you’re. If you don’t then you need to go back to second grade. Online communication is ruining the properness of the English language. Spelling mistakes are more prevalent and slang has become more popular. I wouldn’t blame it on the fact that our society is getting dumber. I would however, blame it on the fact that our society is getting more sluggish. We have become dependent on online social networking. Honestly, I do not go onto Facebook that often. The only things that have drawn me back are to upload pictures and to find out when my friends birthdays are. However, I do like to tweet. On average I may tweet ten times a day, depending on if it’s a good or bad day. The content of my twitter feed is usually song lyrics that somehow relate to my life at some point. I only follow people on twitter that I am a close friend with. I also follow several famous people that post things that relate to my life. I haven’t played online games in awhile but back when I did there were several short acronyms that were used to communicate with other players. Things similar to LOL, but related to the game you were playing.
ReplyDelete0119
ReplyDeleteAfter reading Carr’s argument that technology is reprogramming our memory, I have found a lot of things to be true through my experiences. I do not do much reading, I would much rather watch tv or surf the web. I feel that when it comes time to read scholarly articles I feel like my mind often wanders and I have a hard time digging deep into the context of the article. I also found that I often browse Google, and when I do the answer is always in the top three or four search results. If I can’t find my answer after this I generally give up and don’t investigate any harder. Carr is dead on with his statement that Google is teaching people to not work as hard because we are so use to finding an answer almost instantly. Over the years technology has made us lazier and I don’t see this trend stopping anytime soon because technology just keeps advancing. Although Carr makes Google seem like such a negative thing, I believe Google is one of the main reasons why the average person in today’s society has such a wide variety of knowledge. We have access to it 24/7 any it can answer just about any question we have. I also believe that it has not affected my ability to read and absorb material. I feel that my interest in the topic affects my ability to absorb information, but just surfing the web and reading short articles has not affected my ability to depict text.
When I text I never worry about spelling or punctuation because my phone auto corrects it for me. I feel like this has hurt me in the long run because when I go to write papers or need to do something formally my grammar is not as strong as I would like it to be. I use Facebook and I do not post much on there but when I read posts that people write, at least 75% have spelling or punctuation errors. I believe that by practicing bad punctuation it leads us to appear less educated.
After coding and analyzing my transcript, I noticed a very specific pattern. In the beginning of my paper I did some overall planning of what I wanted to happen in my paper and the order I wanted it to happen in. After this I did planning for just my opening paragraph. I put all my ideas down and then went back and edited. I did this pattern of planning and writing everything that came to mind because I felt that if I went back mid paragraph to edit I lost my train of thought. After I got everything down I would then rearrange things to where it flowed and fixed grammar and spelling
oMo8
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with the basic premise of Carr’s article, that the internet (and Google) has changed the way that I think. I believe that there has been a shift in the way that I store and categorize information cognitively. However, I have not experienced the negative connotations of being an avid user of the internet that Carr describes. Carr almost treats the internet as a carrier, with the disease being ADD. I believe the difficulty that Carr, and those that he mentions in his piece, have is that they no longer adapt their reading style to be properly suited for whatever particular medium they are reading at the time. For instance, I would not have the same mindset reading manga as I would reading a novel. Those are two very different types of literary material, and the way that they are read should be treated accordingly. One of the other aspects of the article that I feel the need to question is the study conducted on the viewing habits of people doing research. Those people were accused of only scanning the text, looking for specific key words. Yet, I ask, is that not what people do with physical texts anyway when they are doing research? Even if the journal article is in physical form, or a book with collected works, I only key into specific words on the page, looking for that one piece of knowledge that is germane to my topic. With that being said, I do feel that the internet has had a negative impact on my cognitive ability in another perspective, that of memory recall. I find that it is no longer necessary to commit to memory certain facts and trivia, and why should I? I have my phone, or laptop, or iPad readily at hand, and the answer is just a short key stroke away. So what has changed is my ability to properly word a search.
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I very rarely post a status update on Facebook. And I honestly wish that my friends would curtail their postings; honestly, not every thought that they have is a pearl of wisdom. When I post, which I do on average about once a month, it is usually something that is above the level of “I just had ketchup on my sandwich.” For instance, the last post, which I made on ВКонтакте, was letting my friends know that I was returning to Russia in March. It is for that reason that I do not have a twitter account, as it only rarely provides any pertinent information. And those few instances that it does, I can easily enough learn about them from other sources. I tend to leave a small digital footprint, especially compared to the amount of time that I spend on the internet. I have never especially felt the urge to share my opinion with those that I stand nothing to gain from in doing so. I never understood the need that others feel when they belabor a point in order to win an argument with someone who has no bearing on them.
You raised some very interesting points in your post. Most people (myself included) may have not considered the different approaches necessary for various types of reading (i.e., reading manga versus an actual novel, or reading for research purposes) and I see the point you made about the inability to "adapt reading styles to certain types of writing". I couldn't agree more with you about the use of social media sites. While I understand that the intent is for its users to socialize, I drives me insane to see someone make nonsensical posts announcing what they do every minute of every day.
DeleteENC 1101-0M08
ReplyDeleteThe main point I understood from Carr’s article was that as industry and innovation are revisited, technology increases; once technology becomes more known, our intellectual processes evolve. He made the argument that every new feature provided to the human population to make life more efficient has allowed the collective to become lazy literates. It is not to say that those who use the web nowadays are more illiterate, but the way people read, think and interpret readings has changed. As stated many times in the article, skimming has become the norm for people to gain sufficient knowledge to know what the story is about but it has become okay to not know all of the details. I think that Carr’s argument regarding how the Internet and search engines have allowed us to become less communicative apply heavily to everyday life in this technological era. Children as young as four, from my personal experience, do not know how to successfully read a chapter book but almost everyone of them is competent in the use of computers, video game systems, and smart phone. It is engrained in today’s society that computers and the world wide web are the future of all aspects of life, which could lead us to that emotionless state of being, seen in 2001: A Space Odyssey, that Carr discusses in his article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?”
Personally, I could not live without the Internet; I could not live without search engines. Wikipedia, Google, Bing, and Sparknotes are among the most common search engine websites that I use. Bing and Google are so beneficial to me because they provide quick solutions to problems and quick answers to questions. In regards to Google, just imagine how many things you can look up and how many results you can get; I can look up a person’s pictures, I can look up an unknown phone number, and I can look up addresses. Although I do agree with Carr on the fact that the Internet has made the population more dependent on those technologies, I also think that it has also made lives in general easier. If we did not have the computer technology we have today, then we would also have to say bye to the type of movie production we have become accustomed to, bye to modern medicine, bye to the smart phones we love so much, and bye to live television.
When I go on Facebook, it is generally to see what is going on with my friends or to look at pictures. Because I do not get involved with too much social media, Facebook is the only social website I keep up with. I do not make posts or statuses on Facebook unless I want to tell a friend about an event happening or most of the time, it is because I think something is funny; I like to share pictures or blurbs of inside jokes with my friends as a reminder of the good moments. I also do not play online video games so I do not follow the lingo of the RPG games or games like World of Warcraft, but I do now that that kind of shorthand can make it easier for to-the-point communication. Texting is another form of digital communication in which many people like to use shorthand, but I, myself, will type full words and sentences; the only things I abbreviate are OMG and LOL. I don’t think that typing in shorthand in texts will transfer to paper writing but I would prefer others to write in full words because sometimes I read what people send to me and I have to ask what they mean because the abbreviation is something I have never seen before.
ENC 1101-0M08
ReplyDeleteAfter I coded my transcribed think-aloud protocol, I tended to think silently and I prefer to do my editing one paragraph at a time. When I start to write, I begin by thinking about the body of my paper and I write down some details or examples I would like to use that relate to the topic of each paragraph. I do this because I like to know what I’m going to write about, but the extra details and flow of the story are put in as I type. I also realized that as I am writing I tend to question and assess my writing as the process goes on. I do this through talking while writing, which I did not realize that I did. Sometimes I will be silent, but I also like to say sentences out loud that way I can tell how they sound; this helps me with the overall direction and flow of the piece I am writing.
Kristy Fudge 0119
ReplyDeleteI personally don’t really use Twitter, I don’t find it very fun or useful. As for Facebook, I probably update a status every time something interesting or funny happens in my daily life. I like sharing funny stories or updating my status when I am doing something interesting or something that is deemed “cool” by my generation. Honestly all Facebook is in terms of my generation is a giant popularity contest and a source to feel socially accepted in terms of what you look like, what activities you do, how funny of a poster you are and who you hang out with. It is sad but true. I mean I do feel as if my generation does use Facebook to communicate and catch up with old friends, but not nearly as much as the generations that are older than me. SO much of how young adult society looks at you is based on what you post on the internet. I mainly try to post about funny and entertaining things or post about any interesting news or music I have found. I feel as if people become so wrapped up in each other’s lives that there is barely any privacy anymore due to Facebook, which I find quite annoying. I also find people’s lives all not real when it comes to Facebook. Seeing people’s lives via Facebook is like watching an episode of Keeping Up With the Kardashians, it is purely staged, only there to entertain its consumer and not how their life really is. People want attention and want to make themselves look good in front of others so thus they only post what people want them to perceive them as just as the Kardashians’ lives aren’t all that dramatic and interesting nor are they probably that loving of a family, just sayin’. I feel as if the crave for attention people naturally have within them makes them lose their filters! For example, Professor Longhany even mentioned one time in class on how stupid people get fired for posting pictures of themselves doing keg stands, and how they aren’t fired for doing the keg stand but rather fired because what company or business wants a worker who is stupid enough to post a picture of that! Our society wants so bad to be accepted socially that people will go to any length to get “likes”…whether it be making ones profile picture them at a party, posting barely appropriate and demeaning pictures of oneself to feel accepted by the opposite sex, or even googling funny Facebook statuses, then copying it and posting it as their own and it is truly pitiful. When it comes to gaming, I don’t do it as much as I used to back home. I love X-Box live but only play it now when I have the pleasure of being in my boyfriend’s dorm, and we typically play COD. Communication happens on Xbox live via one’s head piece which allows them to talk to others who are also on Xbox live. There are different conventions for Xbox games, although I have never been to one.
This is part 2: ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
DeleteKristy Fudge 0119
ReplyDeletePart 3:
The claims I can make about my writing process after analyzing my transcript is that I repeat myself over and over again way too much, and cannot stop saying “ummm” if my life depended on it. Constantly repeating myself helps my gather my thoughts if that makes any sense and saying “ummm” calms me down. The evidence I have to support my claims is that I highlighted every time I repeated myself and every time I said “ummm” and let’s just say my paper was bleeding with sharpie highlighter by the end of the class. When it comes to aspects from other blog responses I think that Rose’s point about writers block if one tries to follow a rule too closely and too precise fits my way of writing. When I am pre-writing, I try too hard to think about how to get an A and how to make the paper perfect that I get writers block and get overwhelmed.
0037
ReplyDeleteCarr’s argument is still very relevant today, because as I was attempting to read this piece I experienced almost all of the things he was saying people did. Flipping to other tabs, listening to music, skimming when I paragraph was too long; I did it all. I cannot read online articles. Besides the infinite distractions of the internet, I personally cannot read thousands of words on a computer screen and apply them mentally the same as if I was reading a real book. I have known this for many years. I can read the Complete Works of Aristotle in print and understand it, but just reading this simple online article was a real struggle for me.
That being said, I do not believe that our minds are losing the ability to delve into deep subjects or that we are losing “our own intelligence as it flattens into artificial intelligence”; for the reasons I listed above, and because I know some people do in fact prefer online reading to print reading. Let’s face it; my generation is called the internet generation. This is our world. From the day we can begin to understand the world around us we are hammered by technology and the internet. It’s so much a part of everything we do. The problem arises, however, for members of older generations as they try to one, understand this new wave of technology and how to use it for their own gain without having to give up the traditional styles they were raised with, and two, as they look down on my generation and how easy everything is to us. They watch us search an article, skim it, and be able to retain the main points of it in a tenth of the time they had to take to do the same project through checking out a book from a library and physically reading it. They believe that because of this change our brains themselves are not “performing” up to par as they once did. This is false. My generation will be the most advanced and productive of any generation before it. And the generation after mine? even better. This is all due to technology. The internet. While online articles may change the way people access information, it doesn’t cloud our ability to process it. I am a heavy internet user but still love picking up a print book. The internet changed how every single person in the world can access and use information. The problem isn’t with our brains decaying into a state of “relying on computers to mediate our own understanding of the world,” as Carr says, but rather it is just adjusting to this new bastion of information and being able to find the correct way to use it for our own selves.
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ReplyDeleteSocial media’s use in my life depends on what social media it is. I rarely use Facebook to post statuses; instead, Facebook’s primary use for me is for me to post links to all my YouTube videos I create of me playing guitar. I do this twice a week usually. Outside of these link-postings, I rarely create Facebook statuses. Now Twitter is a separate issue. To me, Facebook is more about the big things; for example: my cousin got married today! or 90th birthday dinner for my grandpa tonight! Twitter, however, is for the little things; the ho-hums of daily life. I post on Twitter probably once or twice a day. My usual tweet is just about what I am doing during the day, such as: going to the gym with my roommates! or can’t wait to spend time with my girlfriend tonight! I never, on either website, post obscene things related to partying nor do I post crude language. I have family members on both of these websites and I don’t feel it would be appropriate to showcase those two aspects of my life in that setting. On Twitter I follow all of my close friends. After that, it is only the people who tweet about the same, well-looked upon things that I do. People who tweet about partying, post tweets with excessive language, or are insulting to things I value will find themselves quickly unfollowed. I also follow my favorite athletes on Twitter. To me digital communication is a thing that can easily be misused, leading to consequences in someone’s future. I tend to try to stay away from those negative things and focus on using these outlets for fun, informative purposes.
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ReplyDeleteAfter evaluation of my coded transcript, I can make three main conclusions. First, I hate overthinking things and writing is no different. For my creative process and especially my writing process, I work best when I get a general idea of where I go and then I charge into that direction until I feel confident I have what I want written. Overthinking or overanalyzing for me only would hurt my process; and for me to be at my best, my mind must be clear and fully open to engage in the task at hand. Second, I need relative seclusion and quiet to function at my best. I remember times when I was writing my narrative when if I tried playing music on my laptop or tried working in my living room with my roommates, I was too easily distracted and my writing suffered. I need to be able to be alone to get into my writing groove and produce my best possible results. I can work with some background noise, but it cannot be anything I am trying to listen to personally. Finally, my writing process itself reflects my first point. As I said with that, I don’t like overthinking things, and thus I keep almost all editing until the end of my writing. I become easily distracted from my writing groove when I am writing, and thus I do not want to be trying to edit while my brain is trying to write. I edit a few times after I am completed, but rarely do I add once I am deleting, and rarely do I delete while I am adding to the piece. I like everything to follow a clear-cut, precise process.
The other blogs can serve as evidence to these three points because while I was writing all of the previous blog postings, I either discovered these or couldn’t function without following them. I would often times want to listen to music while I worked, and found out quickly it either only hurt my writing or distracted me and would make me want to stop writing all together. As for my evidence about composing while writing the blogs, when I would write the blogs I wouldn’t sit and plan what I wanted to say, I would just type. That’s when I’m at my most creative and productive. They don’t tell painters to sit and meticulously worry and fret about each brush stroke; often, painters just begin painting and let what is inside of them come out and be expressed on the canvas. This analogy serves to describe how I write.
Michael Marinari
ReplyDelete0119- Part 1
Nicholas Carr had quite the interesting article which criticized more technology mainly due to how fast and efficient information is shared. Something that appears as a blessing to some can make others skeptic like Mr. Carr. He feels that the overexposure of the ithernet has actually made it harder to read and write analytically without losing interest. His ideas, although a little over 4 years old, still hold to this day because I would have to agree that too much of a good thing can be bad. I feel that Carr's argument still remains pretty relevant as the ithernet continues to grow more and more and technology gets even more complex. When Carr talks about Google wanting the perfect search engine, all I could think about is how Google has evolved throughout the years and how the Google website can track your location, know exactly what your looking for in a mere 2 seconds, and remember personal information about you. It's amazing but incredibly unsettling in the same aspect.
0037
ReplyDeleteEven though Carr’s arguments were published four years ago, they still hold up today. At the tips of our fingers, we have access to all the information the world has to offer thanks to search engines like Google. A few clicks and we can find out what makes the grass grow or why the sky is blue; this has made us very lazy. We want to be able to find information in seconds, not have to research for hours and hours to find it. Before computers, you might have to spend days in a library reading book after book just to find enough information for a research paper. In modern days, that time has been cut to mere hours on the internet. It has taken away the skill of analyzing the text and pulling out what is important. The important part is just placed on a silver platter in front of you. People, including myself, will become lazier and lazier as time goes on and new technology comes out. For example, a few years ago we had to type (gasp) everything we wanted to say or look up into our phones or computers. Now, we don’t even have to do this with technology like voice to text. And it will only get worse as the wheels of progress role on. In my own life, I can see the relevance of Carr’s arguments. I am so used to being able to instantly answer any question I have via Google that anytime I have to read a long article to find an answer, I lose interest. I’ve had access to the internet my whole life, so I don’t believe the internet has changed the way I think, it has shaped it. I cannot say definitively whether Google has changed my mind and thoughts for better or worse. However, I can say I believe that even with all the negative aspects it brings, technology like the internet has made the world a better place to live and learn in. Information gained from the internet has no doubt saved countless lives and given people opportunities to learn about anything they want. Technology may have made us lazy, but we now can achieve much higher levels of knowledge than with just our brain thanks to it.
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While I may have a Facebook and other forms of social networking, I do not often communicate with others by writing on them. The only things I ever put up onto social networking sights are photos that I believe are worth sharing. It is my thought that people who are constantly updating their social networks are just looking for more attention. The main reasons I have these accounts is just to keep up with my friends and to see interesting things that are going on. If I see something interesting on Facebook and want to communicate with someone, I just do it over text messaging. I feel it is more personal since it is just between you and that other person without the distractions of your other Facebook friends. When I text, I do not abbreviate or use improper grammar on purpose. I just can’t bring myself to do it even if it saves time. I’ve been drilled my whole life on the importance of using proper grammar and texting is not an excuse to step away from this. Plus, it is just a good habit to get into so if you ever need to communicate digitally with someone professionally, you will not come off as unprofessional and look bad.
Continued 0037
ReplyDeleteAfter coding and analyzing my think aloud transcript, I can without a doubt that my process is very recursive and well-defined. The cycle that is my writing process consists of planning, composing, editing and rewriting, and then back to planning. I outline what I am going to say in my head and pick out the best arguments I can think of. Then I will start to compose a few sentences. Once I have wrote a few sentences, I immediately go back to what I just wrote and read and edit it. I sometimes will tweak a sentence four or five times until I am happy with it. This really slows me down and stops me from gracefully transitioning from sentence to sentence. After I am done editing these few sentences, I will compose a few more and edit once again. This goes on till I reach the next paragraph and I start the cycle over again with planning. I believe that if I could stop myself from editing every few sentences and just edit at the end of my writing, I would be a much better and more efficient writer. The evidence in my coding very clearly supports my claim. The main coding symbols that come up in my transcription are planning, editing, making a judgment of my writing, and periods of silence. The periods of silence come after I edit and are caused by the editing making me lose my thought process. In other blogs, I can see that I am not the only one who stops to edit very frequently. People have the same problem as me and there must be a common cause for this problem.
Brandon Jones 0037
ReplyDeleteCarr’s argument is still valid and very much relevant in today’s world. The internet Is depended upon to do so much in our everyday lives, we go crazy when we are separated from this technology. I know personally, that I come from a generation that never had to read encyclopedias, use abacuses, or even really use a library. Everything has come so easy whether it’s been getting research for a paper I am writing or checking the correct spelling of the word “receive”. We’ve become lazy and spoiled because of these advances in technology. Reading through the article it brought me back to a scene in the Disney film, “WALL-E”, where the human race is shown as obese, lazy individuals who do not even have the strength to walk on their own feet. That scene gives me a good metaphor of what the internet is doing to our minds. My only knock on Carr is that he seems very overdramatic. It has been proven that the internet has been a source of educating and enlightening others in our world today. Even though it has made everything incredibly easy, that is not all entirely bad. This means instead of spending all our time trying to locate, extract, and piece together things that we want or need, the internet does all of this for us so that we can spend more time garnering in this knowledge and expanding our minds. This has led to newer generations becoming smarter than past generations, theoretically. The internet is a great tool when used properly. It opens us up to a world that we would otherwise never have accessible use.
When thinking about how I interact in these online communities like my Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr accounts, I try not to post too much personal information online. I notice how easy it is to slip up and want to share many things which should be kept private because everything is so open and doing things like posting a picture are only a click away. In the past, I would post things like status updates, tweets, and blog post pretty frequently, but recently I’ve toned that activity down. I can also include the world of text messaging along with these communities because text messaging in its own right has its own universe. In these communities, communication is mainly informal and contains many grammatical errors, slang, jargon, and other colloquialisms. That way people are able to interact the way they feel most comfortable without the feeling of being judged or having to conform to the societal norm. On Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr I follow my friends because they are what I know, they are part of my inner circle and while we have all went our separate ways this year. I can use these communities along with text messaging to keep and contact and reconnect with virtually anyone.
After transcribing and coding my writing process, I conclude that my writing process merely consists of General Planning and Local Planning, organizing one’s thoughts for writing and planning what comes next, Talking leading to Writing, and Writing Silently. These three operations are repeated throughout my writing process in almost a uniform fashion. There are various mediums I can use as evidence of this claim. One of them being the transcription of my writing process, which contains these codes in this same order at least a dozen times. The other piece of evidence being from a previous blog posting where I made a metaphor for my writing process. The metaphor I used was ‘scrapbooking & making a collage’. In describing this metaphor, I alluded to the vast amount of time I spend brainstorming and jotting specific details down I will use to write my piece. I then mentioned how I talked about how I would use these little bits of information in my writing and how I organized them in a way that would be the most useful. I ended that blog post stating how I just took all this information and wrote based on this outline ‘adding and pasting’ where need be.
0119 - part 2
ReplyDeleteWhenever I'm writing outside of class it is usually for my job rather than social networking. My job at Carrabba's requires me to take orders and write them out so that the kitchen knows what to make. I rarely post anything on Facebook unless I go on a big trip or event. I mostly only scan through what others are posting so I can get an idea of what everyone is up to. Facebook is my only social networking site of choice. I feel like Twitter is a waste of time so I stay away from it and it's "tweets". The only aspect of Twitter I like is the way you can follow others which is a handy way to follow others actions and moves. This is similiar to Facebook's "liking" option which I'm compelled to press whenever I feel a status has value either comically or intellectually. Now Facebook is cool but the real social networking is on Xbox Live where you can become "friends" with some kid all the way on the other side of the world in the same time it takes you to get food at a McDonald's drive-thru. It's quite amazing and simple how it works. Two players find they like a game in common, play that game online together, and share in the laughs and memorable moments. Some of these bonding moments are purely temporary but some can lead to actually friendships! For example, I met a kid on Xbox who lived in Ohio. We played Call of Duty together all the time and became good friends. I eventually went up to Ohio to visit family and I took some time to visit him as well. We hung out and had a good time together as buddies. This is an example of online bonds that can be formed.
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ReplyDeleteEven though Nicholas Carr’s paper was published a few years ago, it still holds up to the current effect of the Internet on human intelligence. Still to this today, individuals are capable of finding almost anything within a few short clicks. Search engines, such as Google and Wikipedia, allow people to skim over countless topics is a short period of time. This statement closely correlates to my own experiences. I spend a lot of time researching topics that I enjoy, which leads me to skimming information, instead of actually reading it on a deeper level. Gathering data in this format results in an individual knowing just a little about different topics, which can be very dangerous. Every day, people are getting dumber and dumber because they continue to rely on artificial intelligence, rather than the knowledge they possess in their own minds. In the present day, millions of scientists are striving for the technologies of tomorrow, which, interestingly enough, is having a reciprocal effect on human intelligence.
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I do have a Facebook account, yet I rarely feel the need to post information on it. The only time I will upload stuff is if I have new photographs or interesting events that my friends and I are partaking in. On Facebook, I follow all of my friends, family, and the celebrities that I enjoy. On occasion, I’ll play videogames online with my friends using a microphone to chat with them simultaneously. Our conversations are usually comedic, due to the enjoyment we share while playing. One thing I notice about my social interactions, particularly while texting, is that I always correctly spell what I am saying. I rarely use abbreviations or “texting slurs” while communicating. I suppose that this helps to keep technology from having an increasingly negative effect on my intelligence.
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After coding and analyzing my transcript, I realize that my writing process primarily consists of general planning, making positive assessments of my writing, and editing. Before I begin writing a paper, I usually take a few moments to brainstorm about the topic and develop a basic idea of how my paper should flow. As the creative juices begin to flow and the thoughts are transcribed, I periodically assess my writing in a positive way. While assessing my writing, I will quickly skim my previously transcribed thoughts to determine whether or not they flow correctly. After I complete the process of writing the paper, I will proofread it a few times and make any edits as needed. Based on previous blog responses, I agree with the analyzation of my personal writing process due to the fact that I always spend a few minutes brainstorming about the topic of my writing.
0119
ReplyDeleteVery much of what Nicholas Carr argues is still relevant today. Since then technology has improved a lot and still improving. The internet, as Carr mentioned, has become our clock, printing press, typewriter, calculator, phone, radio, and TV. iPhones are an example of a product that I feel like almost everyone except me has and keeps coming out with “newer”, “improved” versions. This phone is literally a computer in the palm of one’s hand, something I would have never imagined ten years ago. Efficiency is key for improving technology, so that makes us work less hard to reach what we want. Mentally it affects our focus and concentration because we tend to do a lot of skimming and speed reading on the internet. We are deviating from deep reading and deep thinking because of all the shortcuts that are in front of us. Like Bruce Friedman, the convenience the internet brings has affected my ability to read and absorb long articles. Companies study us and want to make sure we view as many advertisements as possible, thus causing distractions purposely.
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Compared to my friends I almost never post anything on Facebook. I still have the same profile picture from summer of last year so I guess that shows how I don’t care much for it. The only occasions I would post statuses is when something crazy I’m watching happens, usually dealing with sports. I’m almost positive I posted a couple of statuses about the Heat during the playoffs this year due to my excitement. Other than that I don’t post a lot. I don’t have a Twitter, Instagram or Tumblr. I only follow my friends on Facebook because I don’t accept friend requests from strangers and they are usually fake accounts trying to add you. One thing that has been bothering me lately is all the spam and junk. I do not play games online.
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My writing process consisted of mostly planning and talking about the ideas I wanted to write about out loud. There was also a lot of silence throughout because it was hard for me to talk and write at the same time. I thought my coding was weird but then I realized that there isn't a certain way it has to look like. My claims will be supported by my coding. After reading other blogs I saw that other people were having the same issues as I was having so that made me feel better.
Before reading this weeks article I was finishing up some math homework that i needed to complete online and I now realize after reading this article that we are very well dependent of such great invention that is now part of our daily lives. As i was reading this article a folktale came to mind but for the life of me i could not remember of the name of the character's name, all i could remember was that it was based on the idea of Man vs. Machine. i went to ask my girlfriend if she knew and her answer was, "Google it!" and i immediately thought of the irony. After "Googling it" i found the tale and its called John Henry vs Machine and its about a competition that was held between a new invention, the machine, and a railroad worker and this competition wanted to find out who worked faster. In the end that man was victorious but fell and died of exhaustion on the spot once he defeated the machine. Following along in the article i noticed that pointed out that fact that the internet is making us lazier and later he showed of other people of the past who thought that in some way shape or form the new technologies that were coming about would soon affect us in some way, shape or form. An example Carr gives us is of Socrates and how he believed that the art of writing would intrude on our internal knowledge. Carr also talked about the "brilliant" ideas of the founders of Google, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, which includes an enhancement to our brains with an actual device implanted in our heads or simply a replacement of our brains with artificial intelligence. with this new technological advancements there is much competition on who gives the fastest results and this dates back to an experiment by Frederick Winslow Taylor mentioned in Carr's article. now when i google something, google provides me with the information on how fast it was able to acquire what i was looking for, and it is usually under a second! Personally i dont consider myself technologically competent in many areas and believe it or not, not even Facebook. I didnt obtain a Facebook page until two years ago and i never had a Myspace either because i could not even figure out how to display anything on my information sections until someone showed me how to do it. Now i only go online to chat with my family in Mexico so our phone bill doesnt go too high. when it comes to the status of my page, i believe its been a month since i posted something and it was about soccer.
ReplyDelete0119
Delete0119 - Part 3
ReplyDeleteAfter throughly examining and analyzing my think-aloud protocol using a simplified version of Perl's coding process, I found that I have many moments of quiet pause and reflection mixed into countless periods of general planning. Multiple times withing a minute I would take time to think and would use words such as "umm" and "hmmn" to express that I was thinking. This is an example of a form of writer's block where you can't get the ball rolling due to the fact I want to answer the topic perfectly the first time. Mike Rose's study supports this when he found that some rules, if followed too literally, can impede the writing process. Another Professor, Tomlinson mentions "sculpting" as a metaphorical way to describe revising which I feel relates to my think-aloud protocol. Both of these studies back up my claim of me taking to long to write something down.
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ReplyDeleteThe availability of information on the internet has quickly gone from being a positive innovation in most people's eyes to being a negative hinderance. Carr argues that extended use of the internet has wired our brains in a way that makes it hard for us to engage in the "traditional" mode of reading. What Carr is describing is simply his own struggle of self-control. Carr, no doubt, no longer struggles with the obstacles that keep him from deep reading/thinking, but writing this article is proof that this behavior isn't permanent change to the human brain. The simply fact that he, and many of his sources, has recognized this change shows that its something that we can overcome, that is, if its something we need to overcome in the first place.
If the brain is as "infinitely malleable" as Carr believes, why can't there be room for the most complex device in the known universe, the brain, to be wired in a way that allows for "traditional reading" and this new "power browsing" to coexist?
We should recognize that this method our brains are using to browse the internet, this skimming over text for key phrases and ideas, is a positive and healthy response to the vast amount of information available to us. Now that knowledge is more available to the average person than ever before, we should recognize this so called detrimental behavior as an indicator that people have no shortage of interest in new information. I believe we are adapting naturally to this influx of learning, and that this behavior has an easy fix when we acknowledge what we're doing
I've admired the ability of human beings to overcome and adapt to new circumstances, and this Age of Information is just a new way we are being tested. Carr describes huge innovations that shaped reading and writing in the past, and how despite the skepticisms, humans were able to preserve the ability to engage in "deep thinking". I believe all of these links and ads that often get us off track when absorbing the information the internet has to offer is no different than the distrations of the outside world when we sit down to read a book. However, people are often able to overcome these distractions. Sitting down to read a book in the New York City Subway, for instance, is no easy feat of the mind. One's mind might be overburdened by the prospect of new information that could come with investigating a strange sound or looking at the smorgasbord of people coming and going, but the fact is, I've seen countless people using public transportation overcome this behavior. These people simply use music to drown out the noise and avert their gaze from the outside world to engage in deep reading. The perfect place for deep thinking doesn't exist in this universe. There will always be distractions thats will always try to pry us away from our use of deep thinking, but history has proved our resilience. All the ads and links I've encountered today hasn't prevented me from reading Carr's article online (which I felt was more appropriate, considering the subject matter), nor have they prevented me from typing this response. I'm not sure if Carr's motive was help us realize there is a time in place for both methods of reading by creating a skepticism against the world's most recent innovation of obtaining information, or if he simply is acting as doomsayer, watching a little bit of the human mind's ability crumble. Nevertheless, I recognize the importance of this article in highlighting the concerns of many these experts who see the internet in a negative light. But the truth is, this invention is still too new to really determine whether or not it will be overall positive or overall negative to the expansion of human knowledge.
I agree with you completely on the ability of "traditional reading" and "power browsing". The internet is a new resource entirely and it shouldn't have to take away from the already existing outlets of information. This only happens if we allow it to. I think the human brain is more than capable of allowing for both techniques and methods that are necessary for reading and internet browsing.
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I actually do not often post updates to Facebook. I'm not one of those people who update my friends on exactly what I'm doing, where I'm doing it, and whom I'm doing it with. However, every now and again I will, but only if its a special occasion or theres something my friends and I want to brag about. I see a lot of people use pictures to document and connect with others (i.e. Instagram), but I'm much of a photographer, and I believe that if its really something I should remember, my memory won't let me forget it. I've found the use of Twitter redundant when I already have a Facebook full of friends, posts, and photos well established. Also, I find it would become an added distraction. I tried twitter out and found it interesting to follow celebrities I liked, and while it was entertaining for a while, I'd rather follow those actors' movies and shows rather than tweets telling me how wealthy they are or what their dog ate for brunch. Most of the games I play don't involve any kind of communication, and the ones that have the ability to communicate are ones that don't make it integral to beating the game, and rather have the function to enhance the experience (i.e. team-based FPS games).
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I've found that I have to go through a lot of general planning before I really begin my writing process, and I have to think about what I write or type before I actually write or type. I feel like what I write is useless unless I have a basic structure. If I go in and try to plan while I write, I find that I'm deleting more things than I'm typing. I don't prefer that kind of messy writing process.
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ReplyDeleteI thought Carr's article was very interesting, and for the most part it presented a valid side effect of the internet. I think the title of the article was slightly misleading; however, it is thought provoking. He presents to us the idea that the internet is 'reprogramming' our minds. This does not necessarily imply that it is making us stupid but that our minds are adapting to the medium of choice. He shows there is a disconnect between the type of thinking provoked through reading books and detailed articles and the type of thinking provoked through scanning the internet. I agree with these points, but I think our brains are more than capable of being able to function using both types of thinking. Just because a person scans through the internet doesn't mean he or she can no longer read novels. Today, we still here about the effects of the internet on young people and on the population in general, but I don't think these topics and provocations stick with people. We brush them off because the internet isn't going away. It is only going to become bigger and more advanced, and we have accepted this. In this sense, I really don't believe his ideals have held up all that well. I do think his idea of the internet promoting efficiency or quantity over quality is valid. We often use the internet to quickly prove a point or get an easy answer. Many of the answers to our simple questions are "Google it". But, even so, we are seeing more and more depth with in the blue links of the internet. Entire documentaries can be watched on YouTube. Full-length articles are available on the internet, and even entire books can read on the internet. So allow the the internet and Google may promote efficiency and quick scanning of information, it does provide avenues for deep thinking and learning.
Something I think is interesting is how different aspects of the internet can show up in my daily life. The best example I can think of is internet memes. Often I will relate a real-world experience with a meme that I know of or have seen. Other times my friends and I will reference internet jokes in our real life conversations or interactions.
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The two main outlets I use for online/digital writings are Twitter and Reddit. On Twitter, I have a few followers and I follow only a select few people. Most of the people I follow are friends of mine and a few celebrities or professional athletes. So far my favorite person to follow has been Chipper Jones. He is my favorite baseball player, and he often tweets about his teams performance during a game which I like. Most of the tweets that I post usually deal with anything I find interesting, or they are my thoughts on something of relevance. When posting on Reddit, my writing takes on a whole other form different from the usual form it takes when using other online mediums. The Reddit community takes writing etiquette and grammar quite seriously, and other members will be quick to point out grammatical mistakes in your writing. Most of my Reddit posts are concise and get my point across.