In U.S. history, I was taught Cuneiform, developed by the Sumerians of Mesopotamia in 3500 BCE was one the earliest forms of writing. Sumerians drew symbols on clay, metal, stone and wax to communicate, trade goods, track daily events, follow astronomy and write literature. Later, Egyptian hieroglyphs emerged in the Early Bronze Age, which soon contributed to the Latin Alphabet which Americans now refer to as the alphabet. All this goes to show that the world is continuously evolving and progressing. Especially, the technology in the school system. Classes no longer have rusty wooden desks and green chalkboards. Now, lectures and assignments are conducted on smartboards and projectors which teachers control by using computers. According to the article is “Is Google Making Us Stupid,” the author conveyed that because of technology like cellphones and email, we are reading more than we ever did in previous decades (Carr). Numerous debates have occurred recently on whether schools should promote digital reading or if students comprehend better from paper books. After completing thorough research, I believe digital reading is not detrimental, yet actually beneficial to how we comprehend literature for the future.
For starters, we live in digital age. Almost everything in the 21st century requires us to utilize our online sources. For instance, most test and quizzes in college and highschool are given electronically, also online classes are now offered for multiple subjects. Point Of Sale systems are in nearly every workplace, and Global Positioning Systems are built off the Internet. It is no surprise authors are shifting towards the E-book market. In fact, in the article “The Reading Brain In the Digital Age” the author claimed “e-books currently make up between 15 and 20 percent of all trade books sales”(Jabr). E-books are rising to popularity because of their convenience. When traveling, you can enjoy any book you please without the hassle of the weight of paper books. E-books are also accessible on many devices such as, Kindles, IPads, Tablets, computers and cellphones. Despite that, the dispute continuously arises concerning if a student comprehends texts better physically or electronically. Well, a study conducted by The University of Leicester found “ students scored equally well regardless of the medium, but differed in how they remembered the information”(qtd in Jabr). Therefore, this evidence proves that digital reading is not harmful to how we comprehend literature. Nevertheless, information retention can differ by the individual and study habits. With this intention, I hope that you can see that E-books may be more fitting for the school’s environment, and digital reading will not alter how students grasp literature.
In addition, the qualities people love most about books are now offered and enhanced onlined. Hyperlinks ultimately played a huge role in this. Hyperlink defined by the dictionary is “an electronic link providing direct access from one distinctive marked place in a hypertext or hypermedia document to another in the same or a different document” (Merriam-Webster). The most common excuse people prefer reading paper books oppose to online articles is because they typically feel that they can interpret text better when it is written on paper. However hyperlinks provide readers with additional information supporting the text. For example, when clicking hyperlinks, a whole array of information can appear ranging from graphics, videos, definitions, and even additional articles. All are very resourceful when writing research papers on subjects you have no prior knowledge of. In contrast, doing research from old-fashioned paper books will limit the amount of information that can be found, and may require you to search through other books which can be a tedious process. On top of that, in the article “The Reading Brain in the Digital Age” the author suggested that, “People also like to have as much control over a text as possible—to highlight with chemical ink, easily write notes to themselves in the margins”(Jabr). While the author is correct, I find annotating literature on paper useful as well, now thanks to websites like Hypothesis and Scribble.com this feature is available online. Readers are now able to highlight in various colors, write in the margins write and discuss articles globally for clarity or to view others stance. All in all, the Internet offers an extreme amount of resources that a paper book can not fulfill.
To demonstrate, I personally do not read paper books as much as I did in my early years, however I read more now because of the Internet than I did before. Social media outlets such as, Twitter, Facebook and blogs allow me to read without feeling obligated. If I am curious about what’s happening around the world economically, politically and socially all I have to do is type in keywords in the search engine and hundreds of articles with responses, and opinions appear. I could discover this same information reading a newspaper, but I never have the urge to since the newspaper only contains the article. Identically, with the dictionary and thesaurus, these books are always available in school, but would you rather flip through six-thousand plus pages to find one word, or just type in the word and get an answer in less than a minute? Not to mention, since, schools have promoted Internet use I have been able to take notes more efficiently, write stronger research papers and complete homework without the heavy load of several books. All beneficial for both teachers and students.
In conclusion, based off the information I gathered from previous articles I feel the education system should continue to adapt to the digital age. I feel we have already made a great deal of progress judging from the computers and access codes we have available in school. However, that is not enough. I was not aware that students are able to annotate online until my second semester in college. If I did not know, imagine the amount of other students who do not know this resource is available. Also, as I mentioned previously I am now capable to take more efficient notes in class. Teachers often convert their lessons into powerpoints which allows me to write down everything that’s important, and refer back to before taking a test. Whereas, in Statistics I find it very hard to take notes because my professor free hand writes his lessons and I often find his handwriting is hard to see and read. All in all, technology should continue to be used and enhanced in our education system.