So, the new book we are reading- Smarter Than You Think: How Technology is Changing our Minds for the Better by Clive Thompson- was incredibly refreshing to start reading after ending with the depressing McChensey book about how democracy is failing and the internet has issues.
I have always been of the opinion that technology can be both good or bad depending how it is used. This reading, although long, was enjoyable to read because it reminded me about the good after reading so much about the bad. I was particularly struck by the casual manner in which Thompson admits to being distracted in the first chapter and the baby Total Recall example in the second chapter.
The casual manner in which Thompson talks about being distracted from writing this book was genius to me. He explains to the reader that before he knows it, he has "lost two hours of work, a missing-time experience redolent of a UFO abduction," (10) Not only is that hysterically worded but it is also everyone who is living with internet can relate to what he is saying. A little later on he also admits that he used to think these changes were bad for us meaning he was a skeptic but is now a celebrant.
In the second chapter called "We, the Memorious," Thompson shared a really touching story of two speech scientists and their first child. The couple hooked up a setup that wired their entire house with cameras and microphones to study the verbal development of their child. What the graduate students found out was interesting but also the moments that the camera recorded were precious. Thus bringing back the positive nature of technology in giving us information and allowing us to relive important moments. Here is a link to the study done, if anyone is interested in reading more about it.
How did others feel about the change of direction with this new book? What examples really struck you about the positive nature of technology in these first few chapters?
I completely agree, Caroline! I was happy and very interested to read something that actually states the positive aspects of technology in our culture. I also felt as though McChesney and most of the other readings were incredibly depressing due to constantly stating what we hoped technologies, like the Internet, would be and then seeing what they ended up becoming and how they harmed our society.
ReplyDeleteThe part of the reading that struck me the most was the section about writing. I agree with Thompson's claim that North America has been so much more focused on reading than writing when the two are equally important. I know growing up, parents always tried to get their kids to read but not write. Thompson cites Deborah Brandt when discussing this: "Brandt notes, writing was something you did mostly for work, serving an industrial purpose and not personal passions" (50). However, this has changed in our modern society.
Between Facebook, text messaging, blogs, emails, Twitter, and more, Thompson calculates that, "We're composing at least 3.6 trillion words daily, or the equivalent of 36 million books every day" (47). This is clearly an astonishing statistic. While most of the authors we read before Thompson may say this is a problem, Thompson disagrees. He states that we actually do a lot more writing than people pre-Internet due to the fact that the only writing people did after high school and college was barely write one letter every two weeks. We can formulate our ideas through these various technologies, and Thompson says this writing helps us understand. For example, by doing this blog, all of us in this class can understand the readings better. The same goes for posting an article with your interpretation on Facebook, commenting on an online forum, or interacting with someone about a topic on Twitter. Without current technologies, the amount we write would be drastically less, and we would still fall into the problem of only focusing on reading.
Jordan, thank you for your response! I agree with you and Thompson about the writing in North America. Without social media, I doubt anyone would be writing as much. I like how you connected this to the blog that we are doing for this class. But the focus on reading over writing could be a problem. I saw that College Board changed the SATs which one of my group members wrote about. They made the essay portion optional which is bizarre. Writing needs more importance!
DeleteYep Caroline, your title definitely says it all. Clive Thompson takes an approach that's different from the standard critiques of today’s new media and the ways that it affects us. What really appealed to me while reading this section of the book was his manner of writing. Not only did he try and debunk some myths set in place by those with more pessimistic views of new technology, but he explained all of his points and gave real world examples to back up his statements. He even explained his process of writing the book. Because his writing style seems so down to earth, it’s easy to read but also intriguing and very informative. Lastly, about writing, yea I definitely agree as well. The point that Thompson made about writing for teachers vs. others is sad but true in many cases. Typical “school” writing can become so mundane and unentertaining that students often write in a manner that would simply satisfy the teacher and that’s it. But, writing for an audience forces students to break out of that mundane writing style in order to avoid disapproval from an online audience, for example. More U.S. educations organizations should be more focused on writing. And I also think that Thompson’s views can be tied into one of the few utopian ideas that McChesney proposed at the end of his book. The both believe that we should focus more on the writing process in order to make students better writers. Both of their proposed ideas which are basically the same… would make for a more open and truly democratic society, which is what the internet was supposed to be in the first place.
ReplyDeleteKeon, thank you for responding! Both authors we have read do indeed believe that we should focus more on the writing process in order to make students better writers. And I agree with them. However, I agree with Thompson more that the internet is allowing people to write more. I also really enjoyed his down to earth writing style.
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