Reading Response 1 "The New Literacy"

In the article “The New Literacy” by Clive Thompson shows that there are people who think that new technology is causing kids to lose the ability to write well crafted essays and has “dehydrated language into bleak, bald, sad shorthand.” Then goes on to describe Andrea Lunsford’s research which show the opposite is happening. Lunsford says that “I think we’re in the midst of a literacy revolution the likes of which we haven’t seen since Greek civilization.” Lunsford shows that with the new technology people are writing now more than any generation before them. Because of this people are writing to an audience that is not just the teacher, which gives them the feeling that their writing has a purpose more than just getting a grade. Lunsford also found that students were very good at assessing their audience and changing the way they write to get their point across the most effectively. She also believes with this more public and conversational online threads and chats, writing is getting closer to the Greek tradition of argument rather that the letter and essay writing of 50 years ago. Clive Thompson suggests that people learning who they are writing for and why is the most important factor of all.

My own view is that technology helps us become better writers. Though I concede that there are probably better more effective activities people could be doing to become better writers, I still maintain that these activities are things people enjoy and are much better than not writing at all. These new technologies are things people enjoy and do willingly, even though most of the writing is not perfect you still are using writing to communicate and share your ideas. For example, using Facebook you are sharing information about yourself and communicating with others through your writing. There are a lot of people who think that online writing and text speak will find its way into academic writing, I reply that people are capable of keeping the two separate. The issue is important because it is the future of the way we write and communicate. The new technology is not hurting the way we write like John Sutherland believes. I think that the new technology is helping the way we write because it is going in new directions and people are learning to write in new ways and express our ideas.