Deep Reading Is Not Just Found In Books

In "A Medium of the Most General Nature" Carr discusses how new technologies are impacting current media, as well as the users. The number of people relying on virtual entertainment and education, is high and growing. Carr writes "Media companies are reshaping their traditional products, even the physical ones, to more closely resemble what people experience when they're online" (94). Due to the large quantities of people turning to the internet, the different media are shifting their delivery and content in order to fit the new ways of the consumers.

Carr finds that the heavy reliance on the internet is detrimental to the users' ability to read and concentrate. Online experiences have users jumping from site to site, clicking on hyperlink after hyperlink. While, I do agree with Carr that the internet has tendencies to be distracting, I do not find his argument of the internet destroying reading skills to be sound. Whether or not people are reading electronically or the good ol' fashion way, people are still reading. I think that the internet is not harming reading skills, but helping them.

In Mary's post last week, I commented on how users are benefiting through online reading. I talked about how we aren't losing any reading or writing skills as technology advances. However, if we are losing skills, how important can they be than? The skills we are losing are because we aren't using them. I don't think that we are at a loss, but just adapting to the day and age. Steven Poole discusses this in his article "The Internet Isn't Harming Our Love of 'Deep Reading', It's Cultivating It." Poole writes, "Not many people in advanced industrial societies today, for example, grow up developing the mental skills required to kill tasty large mammals with a well-hurled spear."

Poole goes on to call out Carr, strongly refuting Carr's stance of the internet ruining deep reading. Poole gives the example of high sales for Young Adult blockbusters, as well as researchers who focus on finding out what young people like to do, in order to create captivating books that fit their interests. Siding with Poole, I do not think that reading is just skimming. Just like Carr mentions, "Many magazines have tweaked their layouts to mimic or at least echo the look and feel of Web sites" (94). Poole's article goes on to talk about how more and more lengthy pieces of writing are being found on the Web.

While both Carr and Poole make strong points, backed up with evidence, I completely agree with Poole. I do not think the internet is destroying reading. People are gaining new skills, not losing them. I think that users are adapting to new technologies, and some people are pessimistic and scared of this change.