Literacy, Culture, and Entertainment.

The average American’s literacy has become a rising concern in the past decade, and it should be. Having the ability to read, write, and understand language is necessary to function in today’s society. Language is used on a day to day basis. Being illiterate in society today could be detrimental to how you live your life. According to foxnews.com, about one in 20 adults in the United States is illiterate in the English language. That is around 11 million people who struggle in everyday tasks that require reading skills. Some doctors, professors, and writers blame this shocking statistic on technology.  Today, new technologies allow us to be entertained almost instantly on the internet and in the palm of your hand on smart phones. Credited authors and writers trust that books and other reading materials are being replaced by entertainment through the internet, television, and video games. Last year one in four Americans did not read a book. One fourth of the population depended on technology for entertainment. Writers and authors believe this statistic is a key reason to illiteracy in America. Illiteracy could also be caused by lack of education, whether it be dropping out of high school or never earning a college degree. Clive Thompson, the author of “the New Literacy”, thinks otherwise. He believes that the internet is making us communicate, read, and write more than ever. Internet sites such as Social Networks, newspapers, books online, and search engines all require reading and writing. The statistics showing a rise in illiteracy in America may be influenced by another factor other than the internet. The survey of our class’s internet habits suggests that the internet and video games are not just mindless entertainment.

                Viewing my recent history on the hard drive of my computer is comprised of a variety of websites. Sites I visited most often included Social Networks like Stumbleupon.com and FaceBook. Websites I go visit to watch videos were Netflix and YouTube. I also visited some web pages to play video games. Websites where I stay up to date with current events were msn.com, Comcast.net, and bbc.com. Discussion during class suggested that my fellow scholars also visit the same websites and some which I have never heard of. Websites that were viewed most often by my classmates and I were social networks, news sites, and web pages for entertainment. Social Networks require reading and writing and allows you to converse with someone through text. Some people may argue the text language can be harmful to a person’s literary skills. I do use some phrases when texting on a cell phone and chatting online to save time, and I feel that it hasn’t affected my writing skills at all. Besides, nobody would ever use mnemonic devices in a professional setting. Clive Thompson explains, “As for those texting short-forms and smileys defiling serious academic writing? Another myth” (Thompson 1).Social networks do require some literary skills to operate. Most websites students visited were to read about their interests, current events, and politics. I personally do most of my reading on the internet. I haven’t read a book in quite some time. StumbleUpon allows me to read articles that inspires and interests me.  Clive Thompson suggests that online entertainment can be considered “New Literacy.” New Literacy can be described as reading and writing through video games, blogs, and social networks. Thompson writes “But it's also becoming clear that online media are pushing literacy into cool directions. The brevity of texting and status updating teaches young people to deploy haiku-like concision. At the same time, the proliferation of new forms of online pop-cultural exegesis—from sprawling TV-show recaps to 15,000-word videogame walkthroughs—has given them a chance to write enormously long and complex pieces of prose, often while working collaboratively with others” (Thompson 2).  Doctors and writers suggest that video games online are unhealthy could be a cause of illiteracy in the United States. Flash games and shooters may fit that argument, but role playing games like World of Warcraft are a different story. World of Warcraft is an online MMORPG (massive multiplayer online role playing game with thousands of hours of play time. The game is very popular with over 10.3 million players online every single day. Some may argue that this video game is even addicting, and people may spend way too much time on it. This may be true, but the game requires a player to have common literary skills to complete challenges and quests. This game easily has well over millions of characters of text within the game and requires players to answer questions and solve puzzles. I personally do not play any online games, but there is no way they can be detrimental to a person’s literary skills, there is just too much reading and conversing within these games.

                The average American’s literacy levels have been decreasing since technology has been put into play. Hedge explains that presidential candidates have been continuously speaking in a lower reading level every election. The reason being is that America’s average reading level is decreasing. George Bush spoke at the reading level of a sixth grader, while Al gore spoke at the level of a seventh grader. They read at this level to help the public understand their political goals. President Bush won the election even though he read at a lower reading level. It may be possible that the average American’s reading level ranges between and sixth and seventh grader. In Scribner’s “Literacy in Three Metaphors” he describes the reading level of the average American. In 1952, a census considered six years of school to be the minimal literacy threshold. Not all Americans graduate College or even High School, a major contribution to the average reading level of an American. The numbers do show that America is becoming illiterate as years pass, but the internet is not to blame.

High School completion is required for a job application and is necessary to function in society. High School dropout rates have been on the decline since 1972. A High School diploma allows for a person to get a minimum wage job. Going to college and challenging yourself while earning a degree will score you a job that requires a higher level thinking than that of a job you would get with a High School diploma. Education and job requirements are major factors to a person’s literacy. A minimum wage job, say, construction, requires a low reading level. Physical labor doesn’t require you to read or write. Repetitive tasks dull the mind. Internet usage is on the rise, and the average American’s literacy is decreasing. Chris Hedges, in “America the Illiterate” explains,  “there are over 42 million American adults, 20 percent of whom hold high school diplomas, who cannot read, as well as the 50 million who read at a fourth- or fifth-grade level. Nearly a third of the nation’s population is illiterate or barely literate. And their numbers are growing by an estimated 2 million a year” (Hedges 1).  Both these statistics are on the rise, which is why it could be thought you can illiteracy on internet usage, but the internet is much more than just mindless surfing. Some many argue that the internet is distracting towards school work, that video games consume too much, and T.V. is monotonous entertainment.

In Nicholas Carr’s article “Is Google making us Stupid?” he explains that the internet is making research easier for us. Instead of going to the library and reading a book to find the answer to a question you can instantly find it using Google. In my own opinion I believe that Google is making us smarter. You spend less time researching and more time answering your question. You can also get multiple viewpoints on the subject at hand within seconds. Rather than having to go through five or six books, you can click on the hundreds of links to help you with your question (not all websites that Google suggests are credible though). You can even create your own question on the internet through blogging websites, and have people post their own opinions. Clive Thompson describes the internet as a “literacy revolution”. Thompson writes, “I think we're in the midst of a literacy revolution the likes of which we haven't seen since Greek civilization," she says. For Lunsford, technology isn't killing our ability to write. It's reviving it—and pushing our literacy in bold new directions” (Thompson 1). I completely agree with Thompson’s explanation. The digital age brought with it a literacy revolution. Blog websites, social networks, reading books online, news websites all require reading and writing skills, and we are challenging our literary skills every day we log on. In the movie, “The Social Network”, Mark Zuckerberg’s girlfriend says “The internet’s not written in pencil, Mark, it’s written in ink.” The internet is a permanent archive of culture, literacy, and entertainment.

Blog 9: The Internet: Good or Bad?

At the beginning of the quarter the readings we were given suggested that America is doomed because of technology. The most challenging part about this quarter was deciding whether the internet was good or bad for me. The internet helps me research, study, keep in touch with my friends, and entertains me all within seconds. Why not use this beautiful tool? The internet is where you will find culture. Whether it is in a YouTube video, a person’s Facebook profile, StumbleUpon, or a blog. A person using the internet is able to read, write, and listen, all which makes up literacy. Claims made by certain authors suggesting that America is becoming illiterate because of the internet preposterous. The internet may be distracting us from reading physical text out of a book or newspaper, but we can find that online too. (also, it saves trees!)

Blog 8: Reading, Writing, and Listening

The literacy of the common American has become a rising concern. In Chris Hedge’s reading “America the Illiterate” he explains that presidential candidates have been continuously speaking in a lower reading level every election. The reason being is that America’s average reading level is decreasing. George Bush spoke at the reading level of a sixth grader, while Al Gore spoke at the level of a seventh grader. They read at this level to help the public understand their political goals. President Bush won the election even though he read at a lower reading level. It may be possible that the average American’s reading level ranges between a sixth and seventh grader. In Scribner’s “Literacy in Three Metaphors” he describes the reading level of the average American. In 1952, a census considered six years of school to be the minimal literacy threshold. Not all Americans graduate College or even High School. This a major factor to the average literacy of an American. Without continual literary practice, a person’s literacy will decrease. Today, books have been replaced by T.V, video games the internet, and texting. Social Networking websites require you to write and read. Video games require a person to read and follow direction. Blogging requires you to take a stance on a subject and defend your argument. Clive Thompson, the author of “the New Literacy” explains that people today are writing far more than any generation to come, and maybe that technology is helping raise the standards for literacy.

Blog 7: Americuh

Chris Hedge’s article regarding the reading level of Americans was shocking. His explanation of the reading level used during campaigns made sense. You can see that the reading/speaking level of presidential candidates has decreased as technology advances, which explains why Lincoln’s reading level was a 10 compared to George Bush’s mere sixth grade reading level. This doesn’t mean that the presidential candidates are illiterate; they are just trying to read on the level of the public to get their point across and secure their vote. George Bush spoke at a lower reading level (6.7) than Al Gore (7.6), yet Bush won the election because the majority of voters could understand his goal as presidency.

                Hedge’s negative tone towards the American public’s reading level made me frustrated, but his explanation made sense. According to the article, America rarely reads. I myself don’t read for fun. Instead I would rather play a video game, go outside, or watch some T.V. Reading is not as entertaining as the alternative, which is why we see such a low average reading level in the United States. . Hannah Arendt explains, “Culture,” she wrote, “is being destroyed in order to yield entertainment.” I believe this statement is false. Culture is found in readings and entertainment.

Both Chris Hedge and Nicholas Carr believe technology is making us stupid.

Blog 6: Google=Bad?

Nicholas Carr should change his article title from “Is Google making us Stupid?” to “Is Google making everything easier?” because after reading Carr’s article it seemed his argument was that the internet is making things easier for us. Maybe he put the word “stupid” in his title because we are doing less to research and answer questions that come up. Instead of reading a book for a couple hours looking for the answer we can almost instantly come up with the solution using search engines on the Web. It could be very possible that the internet is making us smarter because you are getting more opinions on the question you have, not just from an author of a book. Websites that show up first when you search Google are qualified for a justified answer to your question, so you’re not getting a reading the wrong answer to your question. Maybe on the fourth or fifth page of the search websites lose credit because answers can be misleading, which is why the internet can sometimes be a bad source of info. The internet is not making us stupid, it’s just making research much easier and faster.

Blog 5: Blogging vs Thesis

In the first chapter of Joseph Harris’ book “Rewriting”, he explains that all writing is Rewriting. What he means by this is that when you write a paper for a class you need a topic. When you research the topic, you are taking the arguments from a reading, forming it in your own words, are putting it on paper. This can be considered Rewriting. When writing a thesis you also need quotes to back up the argument you are making to persuade the reader. Quoting is also a form of Rewriting because you are stating a fact, backing it up with a quote from an author, and then restating the quote in your own words. In Andrew Sullivan’s essay he explains that when you blog, you are writing opinions of your own on a certain subject. The subject could be a video, a news article, or a book. If you are writing on a certain topic, you are Rewriting.

            Harris and Sullivan both believe that a writer restates and questions the subject at hand. Harris writes “The job of an intellectual is to push at and question what has been said before, to rethink and reinterpret the texts he or she is dealing with.” In “Why I Blog”, Sullivan explains that blogging is spontaneous, the second you come up with a new thought on the subject matter, you write and post. Blogging and writing a paper/thesis are the same in the sense that you are putting your opinions on paper, but the goal of both writing styles is different. When you are blogging, you write for your own pleasure, and a person comments on occasion agreeing or disagreeing with you. Harris explains that a thesis/paper is an attempt to persuade someone.

Blog 4: Our Internet Habits

After reading other classmate’s post about their internet habits, I found that the websites which are visited most often by my peers are Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, StumbleUpon, and various websites to read current events.

                Most people wrote about Facebook in a negative manner. I myself wrote negative comments in my last blog about. If you have been using Facebook for more than four years, you may see where I’m coming from. Facebook’s new “Timeline” feature is pretty cool, though. There have been numerous times when I’ve seen my friends on Facebook advertising their new twitter page. I personally don’t have a twitter account. From reading other classmates’ blogs, twitter came up many times. All I know of twitter is that it is a social network lets you communicate to friends by typing “@username (type message here)”.

                YouTube is another website that is visited very often by my peers. YouTube lets you upload and share your videos with the world. I use YouTube to waste my time, but it’s so entertaining. The suggested videos on the right side of the page are intriguing because of the number of views. My thought process goes a little something like this, “If it has X million views, it must be a good video, so I’ll watch it.”

                StumbleUpon and websites such as msn, newyorktimes, and Comcast were used for reading. I personally go on StumbleUpon if I want to read something interesting to me, and I get my current events from msn.com.

                The websites that classmates visit most often were either social networks or sites for reading. 

Blog 3: Browsing the Internet

After looking at my history on Chrome for the past 3 days, I learned that I use the internet for entertainment and learning. Internet pages that I visited most often comprised of Msn, Facebook, StumbleUpon, Google, YouTube, and Blackboard. Msn.com is my home page when I open up Chrome. I use this website to read current events, keep up with sports, and check my email. Google is shown as the most visited site on my history. I use Google to help me find anything on the internet. I’ve searched mathematical formulas, definitions, other websites, and anything that comes to my mind. I use Google on my iPhone if I need an answer to a curious question that comes up conversation. One of my most visited website succeeding Google is StumbleUpon.com StumbleUpon is a website that is considered a Social Network, but I do not use it for that purpose. StumbleUpon allows people to pick from topics that they are interested in. Some of the topics I pick include: Animals, Bizzare/Oddities, Cars, Chaos/Complexity, Extreme Sports, Nature, Photography, and Sports. There are over 500 subjects to choose from. StumbleUpon is by far my favorite website on the Internet. My Facebook profile is used to communicate with friends and family. I use blackboard to stay up to date with my schoolwork. YouTube is the website that can make hours fly by. From looking at my history, it looks like I spend most of my time on Social Networking websites. StumbleUpon, Facebook, Youtube, and Google are all Social Networks. Blackboard could even be considered a Social Network because you are communicating with your teachers.

2nd Blog: Andrew Sullivan

Blogging on the internet is a source for venting, communicating, and expressing your own opinion. Anyone with an internet connection can blog. Blog websites such as Blogger.com, LiveJournal.com, and OpenDiary.com let you blog for free. The names of these websites help define what blogging is. Thanks to modern technology, people can express themselves on the internet.  Posts can be read by others. People can write a comment expressing their own opinion on the subject of the blog. Andrew Sullivan, a well-known blogger, has written an article called Why I Blog. In it he explains why blogging is so important. Sullivan writes “It is the spontaneous expression of instant thought- impermanent beyond the ephemera of daily journalism”. What he means by this is that blogging is thought up on the spot, it is not prepared on a draft; it is not edited, but simply thought up, typed, and published within seconds. Blogging doesn’t have a desired word count; the post can be as short or as long as you want. You can literally write about anything, from how your day went to the newest current events in politics. You don’t need a prompt, a key reason why Andrew Sullivan advocates blogging. Sullivan values blogging because it is instant. He writes “A reporter can wait—must wait—until every source has confirmed”, and “blogging is impermanent beyond the ephemera of daily journalism” while blogging is made of someone’s own opinion on the subject rather than the raw story. It is not edited by an editor, allowing for another person’s opinion. Instead, it is written personally and is your own opinion, not anyone elses.

Blog 1: Creating a Blog

 Creating a blog was a short and simple process. There were two difficult parts of creating this blog. Thinking of a title for my page, and learning to write like a blogger. Professor Leake told us to try and make the name of our blog creative and fun.  I was about to suck up and make the title “Writing is Fun!”, thinking I would get extra credit for being enthusiastic about the class, but that was very unlikely. After fifteen minutes of hard thinking, I came up with the title “I Write Blogs”, simple and straight to the point.

 I don’t have much experience in blogging, but I know that blogging is a different style of writing. From reading other blogs, it seems that people are less formal; they tend to bounce around a subject and write whatever comes to their mind. Hopefully, by the end of this quarter I can learn to stay on subject to the questions Leake asks us to answer, but write in the style of a blogger. 

Facebook and Blogger can be related to each other. On Facebook, you never see a status update three pages long ranting about the Occupy protests. Instead, status updates are short and very rarely have important subject-matter. Facebook is used to connect with your friends and help you remember their birthdays. Facebook and Blogger do have some similarities, though. Both websites require you to have a profile which shares your interests, activities, favorite books/movies, and a picture of you. You are also able to comment on each other’s blogs/statuses. At first sight, it may seem that Facebook and Blogger have nothing in common, but once you create an account on Blogger you can see that they are very similar.

I have never had interest in blogging before, but after writing this first one, it’s pretty entertaining and I am excited to write on current events.