Andrew Smith

1-27-13

Unit 1 Essay

          The world today is in a period of rapid growth. India, China, Bangladesh, and many other developing countries are growing at rates that have never been seen before. In just the last 50 years, the world population has doubled. Parallel to this remarkable influx of people is the rise of powerful technology, technology that is slowly and subtly undermining the intelligence and literacy of America. Ironically, while the ever-growing world population is threatening overpopulation and overcrowding – packing us tight like sardines – the technology spike is driving us further and further apart and into isolation. Social media, news, and games via the internet has led to an isolated youth, a youth that is forgetting how to operate some of the most basic daily functions.

          50 years ago, before there was an Internet and before there were social media outlets, communication from one to another was vastly different. Instead of sending e-mail or a text, one would pick up a pencil, some stationary from the local store and write a letter. It didn’t stop there, either. That letter had to be addressed and stamped before being taken to the post office. If two people wanted to talk, they could use a telephone, with two major exceptions. First, you would be attached to the wall by a curly cord that had a maximum length of maybe 15 feet. Second, you needed to actually know the number you were calling. There was no speed-dial, and you most certainly could not just click on someone’s name and magically be transferred. Communication was personal. Time and effort had to be put into seeing somebody simply because the technology that existed did not permit instant conversation between folk anywhere in the world.

          Nowadays, when I want to talk to someone I just need to pick up my cell phone and send a text. I don’t even actually have to open my mouth and speak audible words in order to communicate. While this would be fantastic if the human brain has developed to such a point where we could use telepathy to speak with one another, that is not the case. On the contrary, we have just used technology to manipulate the airwaves around us and send digital messages through a grid system at ultra-fast speeds. No longer must we stamp a letter and walk it over to the post office. From the seat of our couch, in front of our 60-inch Samsung flat screen LCD, eating a microwaveable Lean Cuisine, we can communicate with anyone in the world with our iPhones and our iMacs with high-speed dual 7.1 dual processors, all with crystal clear retina display. Great, right?

          You may say yes, all this technology is in fact wonderful. I, too, agree that this incredibly ease of communication and advancement of technology is a positive thing. But what happens when we’re outside the technological grid that allows for this state-of-the-art communication? What happens if the grid turns off? Can Western society make the transition back to a culture that does not thrive off of technological achievements? In the long-run, maybe. In the short-run, however, there would be a catastrophic collapse in communications.

          Our reliance on devices and gadgets has left us lazy and illiterate. What would have been thought of as common sense 50 years ago are now seen as archaic, unnecessary literary functions. Many people cannot read and navigate road maps because of GPS systems that are now stock in almost all vehicles. Even the simplest spelling is now done for us by spellcheckers. This technological phenomenon is reducing Western society’s literacy. In Hedges piece “America the Illiterate,” she presents that the general reading level of Americans has decreased from a 11^th or 12^th grade level to that of a 6th grader in the past 100 years. This drop in reading levels should not be ignored. Emphasis on getting children to school and reading sooner will help curtail that steep drop in literacy and reading level. Not only must we treat the symptoms, we must treat the source, as well. Hedges believes that America is fixed on instant gratification, regardless of whether or not there is meaning. I would agree with Hedges, and I believe that technology has led to such a position. We can pull up any new site on the internet and instantly read about whatever it is that grabs our attention. If it takes more than a few seconds to understand, it is no longer of importance. Technology, and the misuse of technology, is encouraging poor reading habits.

          Others would contend that this increase in technology has not led to such an epidemic of illiteracy. In Andrea Lunsford’s “The Semi-Literate Youth,” she explains how increased technology has not necessarily led to illiteracy, but a different type of literacy. She points to a study done on college-level papers that showed they amounts of errors made by the writer and found that in the past 25 years, the ratio of words to errors has not changed. While this may be true, the types of errors that are most frequent in today’s writing are “wrong-word” errors. A wrong-word error is when the computer takes your misspelled word and corrects it to a word that does not make sense in the context of the word. While this may seem like a minor issue, it speaks on a larger level. If a computer is correcting a word in the first place, it is misspelled; meaning people today are having trouble spelling. If the writer does not catch the error, then clearly proofreading was never done. If a paper was properly proofread, then the word “two” will never be mistaken for “to.” What this means is people are becoming so reliant on technology that they are becoming lazy and trusting a machine too much.

          So what is going to happen? Right now, it is hard to say. But it is clear that people are becoming more and more dependent on technology in order to go about their daily lives. This dependency is detracting from the greatest computer or piece of technology know to man, and that is the human brain. In recent years, however, engineers and scientists have discredited the brain, and developed artificial intelligences that are supposed to mimic the person. I’m not suggesting an I, Robot, like occurrence, but I do believe technology is taking over our everyday life. We have machines cook for us, read for us, turn off the lights for us. All of this is contributing to an overall dependency on technology, which in turn is making us dumber.