Paul Hess
Dr. Licastro
English 151
18 October 2018
The Fall of Technology
Through reading the five articles in a first person point of view, the speakers illustrates that it is relevant on how technology is changing our ability to read and research. The articles thus becomes a comment on the human need to stray from technology so that the brain can process research more efficiently. This idea of technology changing our ability to read and research is especially present in texts that illuminate how the brain is affected from the use of technology. For instance, in The Reading Brain in the Digital Age: The Science of Paper versus Screens, Ferris Jabr illuminates on how the brain reacts to reading off of screens than reading from paper. It is lucid that throughout Jabr research our brains respond differently to screens than they do to paper. It is natural for the brain to read off of paper compared to screens because of how long we have used paper and the way our brain works with it: “How do our brains respond differently to onscreen text than to words on paper”(Jabr, The Reading Brain in the Digital Age: The Science of Paper versus Screens). Here, the speaker suggests that the brain does respond differently towards screen rather than paper. When reading on screens the brain can become distracted from the bright light which can cause headaches or any adds that occur to distract you from one’s research. When reading from paper, it is easier for the brain to process since there is no bright lights or anything popping up on screen that can be distracting. Just as Jabr conveys that our brains respond differently to reading off screens than paper, so too does he delineate that reading of screens can affect younger people. In Jabr article he reveals that this is present in younger people because they are being exposed to this technology more frequently. Reading with technology from a younger age can affect concentration which can lead to not being able to navigate through text: “Volunteers on computers could only scroll or click through the pdfs one section at a time, whereas students reading on paper could hold the text in its entirety in their hands and quickly switch between different pages”(Jabr, The Reading Brain in the Digital Age: The Science of Paper versus Screens). Here, Jabr contends that reading off of paper is more efficient for the brain to process research by being a physical presence thus making paper easier to navigate through. In juxtapositions, these scenes convey that technology is changing our ability to read and research. Ultimately, the texts becomes a comment on the human need to stray from technology so that the brain can process research more efficiently. When the brains distances itself from the use of technology, it is able to function at its full potential to read and research.
In the article The Deep Space of Digital Reading, Paul La Farge challenges that the need for technology is present. This idea of technology changing our ability to read and research is especially present in texts that illuminate how the brain is affected from the use of technology, but La Farge disagrees. Through La Farge research he indicates that the mind wanders off when reading through electronics, but also does this when reading in books. He describes how the human moves down screens just like it would when humans would read off of ancient scrolls:”The Internet may cause our minds to wander off, and yet a quick look at the history of books suggests that we have been wandering off all along”(La Farge, The Deep Space of Digital Reading). Here, the speaker indicates how our ancestors way of reading was through scrolls which made one read consistently down. We are reading the same way as past readers did and now we believe technology is a more upgraded version, but it is different in many ways. Just as La Farge elucidates that the mind wanders the same amount when reading from screens and paper, so too does he assert that the reading brain still has a problem with reading through technology. In the article, the speaker delineates that the brain does not take in the same quantity of information for research as it would when reading on paper:”The quality of digital media poses one kind of problem for the reading brain; the quantity of information available to the wired reader poses a different and more serious problem”(La Farge, The Deep Space of Digital Reading). Here, the speaker implies that the brain still struggles with reading from technology even though screens use the same format as scrolls. Collectively, these scenes describe how the use of technology is present, but still deals with problems with reading and research. Significantly, the text thus becomes a comment on the human need to stray from technology so that the brain can process research more efficiently.
This idea of technology changing our ability to read and research is especially present in texts that illustrate how the brain is affected from the use of technology. For instance, the article Is Google Making Us Stupid by Nicholas Carr, is expressed on how Carr’s brain has been struggling to retain information. He has had an uncomfortable sense that something has been picking in his brain and taking away his memory. Carr feels this mostly when he is reading because when he looks back on what he has read, he has not retained enough information to thoroughly express his thoughts on the reading:” The more they use the Web, the more they have to fight to stay focused on long pieces of writing”(Carr, Is Google Making Us Stupid). Here, the speaker implies that to retain information from technology, one must be consistently focused. Not only does the speaker delineate how the brain struggles to retain information, so too does he reveal that reading text on the internet could change the way we think. In the Nicholas Carr article, he indicates that because technology is so present in our daily life, it has changed the way we think. This is because in our society today, many people use technology constantly which has made it difficult for the brain to process :”Thanks to the ubiquity of text on the Internet, not to mention the popularity of text-messaging on cell phones, we may well be reading more today than we did in the 1970s or 1980s, when television was our medium of choice.”(Carr, Is Google Making US Stupid). Here, Carr illustrates that we did not have the technology in earlier years as we do now. From this, we are now reading more text because of the access to internet and the way we use it. In combination, these scenes reveal that the brain is not able to retain large amounts of information, but is able to change the way we use our brains. Ultimately, the text becomes a comment on the human need to stray from technology so that the brain can process research more efficiently. For the brain to be most productive it needs to distance itself from any form of technology. Although the brain has found ways of making itself better when reading with technology, it will never retain the information needed for reading and research as it would from paper.