“In two studies, hypertext seemed to improve comprehension” ( La Farge “The Deep Space of Digital Reading). I’ve always believed that digital reading is more comprehensive, and it improves our minds. Digital reading has had its drawback and benefits for the past decade, and Paul La Farge and Susanne Murphy prove the benefits of digital reading. Although most people argue that digital reading has no mental benefit, I have to disagree with the counter-argument and say digital reading is beneficial for the mind.
Digital reading has many benefits and can help with comprehension, memory, and grades. Susanne Murphy acknowledges that, “Authors with nothing to say beyond what has already been said are quickly unmasked” (“Plagarism is Dead; Long Live the Retweet”). I believe Susanne Murphy is saying that with reading articles or texts online a person can find out if an author copied someone else and did not give credit. This goes into why digital reading benefits the readers. If people read online, then people can find out who is supposed to be credited. Digital texts have many benefits, including advancing and becoming more interactive for the reader. Paul La Farge claims that, “A new generation of digital writers is building on video games, incorporating their interactive features—and cognitive sparks—into novelistic narratives that embrace the capabilities of our screens and tablets” (The Deep Space of Digital Reading). Digital reading is becoming more interactive, which can make a reader’s cognition spark. This can be positive for readers because they become more involved and feel more confident that they are focusing on a text. If readers are more focused and involved with a text, then they start to have better memory of what they just read and could do better on testing.
Even though digital reading has many benefits and can be cognitively better for a person, some people claim digital reading has drawbacks. Ferris Jabr argues, “Compared with paper, screens may also drain more of our mental resources while we are reading and make it a little harder to remember what we read when we are done” (The Reading Brain in the Digital Age). This proves the drawback of digital reading. This argument claims that screens make us drain our mental resources, and makes memory difficult to comprehend. Although I see Jabr’s point, I have to disagree with his overall argument. My disagreement is that our memories do not fade, but if not comprehend better what is being said, which can improve our memories. Nicholas Carr has a similar argument as Ferris Jabr, but with more information. Nicholas Carr claims, “ If we lose those quiet spaces, or fill them up with “content”, we will sacrifice something important not only in ourselves but in our culture” (Is Google Making Us Stupid?). This argument shows that Internet slows down a reader’s quiet space compared to reading a book. Focus will be lost because unlike reading a book, the reader has pop-ups, advertisements, and random sharing. I have to disagree with this claim. My belief is that we do not lose any of ourselves, and we definitely do not lose that quiet space. If anything, we become more knowledgeable of a subject and can comprehend what is going on in the text. Once this knowledge is stored in our minds our own intelligence is better, and we become superior to the artificial intelligence.
For instance, I have personal experience with digital technology that has benefitted me. My first experience with digital technology would be in English 151. In class I have interacted more with articles, and I have remembered all of the articles and what they are about. I used this for the first time, and basically what I do is annotate a text online. I get to interact with other people and get their opinion on a text. This has helped my memory and cognition. Paul La Farge emphasizes in his article, “ It uses the affordances of your phone or tablet to do what literature is always trying to do: give you new things to think about, to expand the world behind your eyes”( “The Deep Space of Digital Reading”). This means that technology has been resourceful with interacting with digital text, and it is beyond our eyes and mind of wat we read. I know, personally, digital text has made the world expand beyond my eyes, and gave me a greater understanding of what I am reading. Digital text has been very beneficial for me. Another experience I have had with digital reading is studying, and source citing. The Internet has been resourceful with providing me with some topics I have had to study, and if I need a resource then I can go online. My experiences have influenced my opinion greatly. The Internet has proven to being beneficial to me as well as resourceful. The Internet is substantial for memory, comprehension and grades.
As a result of digital texts, I believe in the future education systems should use it more. Education systems can incorporate it more often with websites, such as Hyperlink and other websites that can be used to interact. Interacting with it can help a student become more interested in it. If it can be used more often than students can annotate and can be invested in what they are reading. If the education system would do this, then students can become more intelligent and feel more confident and invested in what they’re doing.