Our reading group read Guy Bilout’s cover article from Atlantic Monthly, Is Google Making Us Stupid, as a supplement to David Warlick’s book Raw Materials For The Mind.
Here are some of the questions that the article raised for us. Feel free to join the discussion.
What are some positive implications of the article for educators? In general?
The intellectuals profiled in the article believe that media/Internet saturation has decreased their capacity for “deep reading” which they argue is “indistinguishable from deep thinking.” Do you sense this in yourself? In our culture? In your students? What are the implications of this?
What impact does Internet/mobile communication technology saturation have on emergent writers and readers?
5 responses so far ↓
1
slsi08
// Jul 22, 2008 at 8:31 am
Positive implications: Like it or not, we are caught up in a seismic shift in the way human beings act in, relate to, and think about the world. How many times has this happened in human history? Only a few, which makes this an exciting time to be alive! I look at the students in my classes and realize how many things they can do with ease that I can’t. This can be threatening: I’m the elder, I’m supposed to have all the knowledge, and I think it’s this fear that easily leads to decrying all the ways in which ‘kids today’ are treading the path to intellectual hell. I read an enlightening piece in a literacy book I have that described an imaginary shift from a multimedia/computer culture to a reading culture and deplored reading because it only used one sense, required a person to be in one position for long periods of time not interacting with anyone or anything else…. you get the picture. The point… we don’t exactly know where all this media/Internet stuff is headed, but it sure is going to be different and yeah, probably worse in some ways than what we have now and better in other ways. Personally, I’m sad that so few of my students can get excited about the books that I passionately love and that have been such an important part of my aesthetic life. But that must open doors, not close them, or otherwise how can I continue as an educator? It’s a journey!
2
suesi08
// Jul 22, 2008 at 8:35 am
In reference to “deep reading” and “thinking”: I feel this greatly. I’m not sure the effect is simply a result of the techno culture, though that is surely a big part of it. The culture in general expects continual multi-tasking and efficiency. I think I read fewer novels as a result, because they require extended time and immersion. Often I feel like they are “forbidden fruit” (and I’m an English teacher!!) And I think we have lost the habit of contemplation, of slowing down enough to let in the ambiquity and complexity and messiness of “deep thinking”.
And our efficiency driven, information based culture doesn’t even acknowledge how much we’ve lost when you drive away the openess of silent observation and the ambiquity of literature and the messiness of “play”.
And along with all of this is a disconnect to nature. i think we’re raising an entire generation., most of whom have little experience with the natural world. I think the natural world can help us reconnect to what’s lost in ourselves, and more “down time” with books, family and friends. Sounds like I’m advocating a return to the fifties and the days of “Leave It to Beaver”. Absolutely not!!!
Somehow we have to use what’s great about our technological world, but be very aware of what we are in danger of losing.
As a teacher and parent, I am sometimes very afraid of what I perceive as trends: Self-centered, solipsistic kids; very short attention spans; desensitization, and a tendency to “amuse ourselves to death” (in Neil Postman’s words).
I think what’s happening in schools is similar to what’s happening economically. The rich are getting richer, and the middle class is disappearing, and the ranks of the poor are growing. In education, we have the best and the brightest, who march off to ivy league colleges and have the world in their palms. At the other end, we have the kids who have few resources, educationally or emotionally, and face an uphill battle negotiating their way out of dead ends.
3
stevemasson
// Jul 22, 2008 at 8:35 am
The first question brings me back to Diane’s comments in a meeting about two months ago. She talked about how she has become a “Skimmer” in her own reading life and promised to take the time to read more texts for deeper meaning and in their entirety. This struck a chord because I am a bit of a skimmer myself.
It also reminded me of my 9th grade students. When researching topics they are able to access a wealt of information, but often fail to read it, much less interpret it and determine its relevance to the task at hand. Many kids view the collection of data as the end all be all of research, failing to syntesiz and create something original. I call it the copy and paste culture. I’;m not sure that I have reached any conclusions, but my stomach is grumbling and I am going to lunch.
4
jgsi08
// Jul 22, 2008 at 8:58 am
Perhaps it is not so much how knowledge is changing and growing but how the new engines for operating on knowledge(like Google) need to be constantly expanding and evolving. Of course, these new engines and their data bases may in turn soon become “artificially intelligent,” and capable of generating new knowledge! But will they really be capable of generating “new” knowledge? Perhaps they will just be capable of preseenting to t to us ever expanding but existent knowledge in so many new panoramic views that the “new” would become much more easily generated within our human, organic brains. Darn it!, I just don’t want to let go!
5
Diane
// Jul 30, 2008 at 7:15 am
When I was a girl I traveled to my public library and borrowed as many books as I could carry home. My goal was to read every book in the junior readers section. I had other goals for myself, too. Could I knit, read and watch TV at the same time? This article made me ponder what kind of child I would be if I were born in 2000 with the world at my fingertips. How do I prepare teacher educators to teach children today?
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