Literacy debate - R U Really Reading?

The title to Rich Mitoko’s article is a pun on the subject of modern literacy: “Literacy Debate – Online, R U really reading?”  It is written in “text language.”  As an assistant professor at a college, I cringe when students write in text language on essays and exams.  Besides substituting “R” for “are”, some students use the number “2” for the words “to”, “too” and of course “two”.  To the traditional reader these are 3 different words, but to some college students the singular character “2” represents them all.  This title sets the tone for the rest of the article.  Mitoko exposes the modern student who has grown up with internet access and explains why this student is different from those of us who grew up reading print material.  As the title also suggests, the author engages in a literacy debate – is this new literacy good for the individual or for society?  This essay will draw examples from the Mitoko article, personal experience and other relevant material to answer the following questions: What counts as literacy? How does literacy change in response to the new media? What value should we ascribe to new forms of communication that continue to emerge and evolve online?

What counts as literacy?  According to the Merriam Webster online dictionary, literacy is defined: “the ability to read and write; and knowledge that relates to a specified subject.”  (Merriam Webster, 2015) This definition, as it is evident in Mitoko’s article, is open to interpretation.  To Mitoko’s credit, he writes a balanced article that provides different points of view on what exactly counts as literacy.  The author makes reference to statistics and “experts” weighing in on the subject.  Many propose that the modern teenagers’ preference of digital media over traditional print is leading to declining reading test scores.  This point of view believes that the immediacy of the information on the internet makes people less literate.  This is juxtaposed to the 3 teenagers who represent a new literacy, in a new reality that cannot be denied.  They read, write and exist in an information environment that is different than the one we grew up in.  They may not be interested in reading a long novel, but they will spend hour’s online consuming information that they are attracted to. 

How does literacy change in response to the new media? First we must explore the “old” literacy the younger generation is moving away from.  In Mitoko’s article, experts chime in on the benefits of print reading.  A printed book by nature has a beginning, a middle and an end; and is generally read in this order.  This type of reading, experts say, increases intention span and encourages linear thinking.  The different capabilities of computers allow the younger generation to read differently.  The teenagers in the “R U really reading article?” are attracted to reading on a computer screen over a printed book.  They may have multiple screens open at a time.  For example, the Columbia University bound Zachary Sims often “stays awake until 2 or 3 in the morning reading articles about technology or politics – on up to 100 Web sites.”  Instead of reading the point of view of 1 author on a topic, Zachary is reading multiple opinions on a subject.  This type of reading is not linear in nature and may be disjointed.  This indicates a new literacy skill set, “locating information quickly and accurately, corroborating findings on multiple sites.  These skills can be cognitively demanding.”  According to statistics and the focus group of 3 teenagers, this is the type of reading the internet generation is engaged in. 

This is relevant to the next focus question: What value should we ascribe to new forms of communication that continue to emerge and evolve online?  With the advent of the internet and the ease of digital publishing, we are presently inundated with vast amounts of information.  This is one of the issues discussed in the Information Literacy course.  Anybody can publish on the internet. This includes credible information as well as the unreliable.  There is very little censorship on the Web.  Racist, violent, sexist and ignorant material exists on the Web alongside scholarly journal articles.  Of course you have everything else in between these 2 extremes.  Because of information overload, there has to be more efficient and effect methods of finding the information you need through the vast ocean of information.  This involves not only information access, but also evaluation of information.  The example used in the article is of a spoof website; in this case most students miss the joke.  I have a similar lesson in my class where we look at a couple spoof websites that are professionally done.  I use the websites: http://www.malepregnancy.com/ and http://manhattanairport.org/, among others to have some fun with the students.  This is to show that you can’t believe everything published on the internet.  In order to figure out the value of new forms of communication we must first evaluate the information. When we look for the value of information we must look at the quality.  There are many qualities such as: authority, currency, relevancy, subjectivity and objectivity.

This topic challenged me to brainstorm the following questions: What is literacy to me?  Why do I read and write?  I read and write to communicate ideas, thoughts, opinions and facts.  Reading gives me the ability to possibly comprehend the world around me.  Through writing, I have the potential to articulate my thoughts and feelings to others.  Literacy allows the reader the ability to understand and writing gives the power to be understood.  According to my definition of literacy, these 3 teenagers are satisfactorily literate.  I believe that it would be a great follow up article to find where Nadia, Hunter and Zachary are now.  I would be curious to find out if their reading habits changed, reverted or progressed 7 years later.