Alvin Toffler

Perhaps the biggest difference in the workplace of the twenty-first century is the types of skills that work demands. A century ago, people had to develop the industrial skills needed for making things; today, people in the postindustrial economy must develop literacy skills needed to created and manipulate symbols (words, ideas, music, and computer code). (pg. 304, para. 4)

Believe it or not, this was the first paper I wrote in about a year. Receiving this assignment, I had to really think about how to approach this assignment since it has been so long. My approach to this assignment was to first decide who I want my three audiences to be. After that, decide the word that I wanted to define for them. I choose the word digital literacy. Deep down I knew what digital literacy meant, but I wanted to be sure because it is so broad of a term. I had to do a bit of research to confirm my suspicions of the word. Then I imagined myself explaining the term as if I am talking to the intended audience. In doing this, I would put the thought down and as a result, the first draft was completed. Upon reading the comments of my peer reviewers, Kathryn Jahn and Trevor Hembry, and taking the

For some of us, it is difficult to comprehend why our education systems have not yet made the transition to technology-based forms of teaching especially when we are in the era of technology. To others, the reasoning is clear and they support the original, dated usage of textbooks in a “traditional classroom” setting. The changes in our society are undeniable with the innovation of technology and social media. Although some authors, such as Neil Howe and Jean Twenge, argue that technology is deteriorating the minds of Millennials, technology is also providing Millennials with a way to create connections across communities.

According to the United Nations Agency, approximately 3.2 billion people have used the Internet since 2015, which has made a drastic increase since 2000 with there only being 738 million internet users then. That is almost 43% of the world's population that uses the internet. A controversial topic that is commonly being brought up in today's arguments is the use of the internet and how people believe it is becoming such a detriment to our society, because nobody in this generation acknowledges the value of books, or even prefers to use an actual copy such as a paperback. The internet, such as Google, is being classified as lazy or ignorant, but reading a book is labeled as literate or being knowledgeable. Thesis:“Teaching in the #Age Literacy” by Jennifer L. Nelson and “Is Google Making Us stupid?” by Nicholas Carr, both analyze the pros and cons to having the internet and information at our fingertips, how it is affecting the way we read and analyze text and different scientific experiments that have been put to use to decode why we think the way we do now and how to improve our intelligence.

In the text ‘The dumbest Generation: How The Digital Age Stupifies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future’ written by English professor Mark Bauerline at Emory University, he continually emphasizes the implication that the millennial generation has intellectual deficiencies because of their dependency on social media and technology. One of his most relevant theories is that the use of video games and the integration of technology into the classroom has negative impacts on a student’s academic performance because “It conditions the minds against quiet, concerted study, against imagination unassisted by visuals, against linear, sequential analysis of texts, against an idle afternoon with a detective story and nothing else” (Bauerline 95).

Carr writes articles and books on technology, business, and culture, and has written for the Guardian, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal. He is a well established writer and was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize in 2011. Carr wrote this article because he found himself having a hard time focusing on any type of deep reading, something that he feels is very important to having a well rounded mind. He emphasizes that because the internet is structured to be a massive amount of information read one small piece at a time, our minds are starting to reflect that. He is writing for an intellectual audience who are probably for the most part highly educated. His audience would be those who can see the importance of the way that we consume information, and how our brains use that information. His writing in this article does a very good job of reaching that audience thanks to his obvious knowledge on the subject, and how he relates to his

Marc Presnky argues that college should ban the use of physical books to encourage the use of electronic books. He gives three reasons to support his argument. The author of the article “College Should Mandate That All Textbooks Be Digitized” states three main advantages of having a bookless higher education. He believes that society should move beyond “physical books of the past” in order to move “education into the future” (Presnky). By employing the use of digitized books, Presnky believes that people will have features not quickly available to physical books such as comments or analysis about a book. Lastly, Presnky believes the biggest advantage of fully transitioning to e-books is the liberation of ideas from printed pages. He thinks

Carr explains that “the media or other technologies we use in learning and practicing the craft of reading play an important part in shaping the neural circuits inside the brain.” (9) This shows that the internet’s influence extends past our subconscious, affecting the growth and development of our brains. But not only is the internet influencing us as individuals, but the media as well. Carr reveals that “as people’s minds become attuned to the crazy quilt of Internet media, traditional media have to adapt the audience’s new expectations” (19). This describes the extent of the internet’s reach on society and how it essentially controls consumers and media

The article, “Digital Literacy Is the Key to the Future, But We Still Don’t Know What It Means,” is written by Marcus Wohlsen. He writes his article, to explain to the public what digital literacy is. Wohlsen knows that the increasing there is an increasing usage of technology in the public life, and to adapt to this they are going to need to be literate is using it. In his article, he explains to the public what this literacy is, and how much one needs to be literate in technology. Wohlsen effectively uses multiple viewpoints of experts and relatability to engage the reader and explain to them what digital literacy is all about.

As schools promote 21st-century learning, there has been a push for literacies which encourage students to be 21st-century learners. The two overarching literacies, new and digital, has taken over the three R’s literacy, reading, writing, and arithmetic. New Literacies continuously change due to the new technology emerging providing different ways to get information and communicate with others (Leu et al., 2015). In contrast, digital literacy is the ability to use digital tools to access information for understanding and communication (Jose, 2016). New literacies and digital literacies also differ in aspects of use in the classroom. New literacies are the building blocks for digital literacy; which are the skills students need to understand the internet (Maloy, Verock-O'Loughlin, Edwards, & Woolf, 2017). New literacies can be taught without the use of technology because students are learning to locate, evaluate, synthesize, and communicate information. Teachers can demonstrate these skills using encyclopedias and journal articles to gain a minimalistic comprehension. Once students learn the necessary understanding, teachers can transfer these skills to online which will promote digital literacy; furthermore, digital literacy can only be taught using digital tools. Teachers would teach students how to use computers and the social practices of the new literacies to gain an understanding of the digital literacy (Jose, 2016). Furthermore, digital literacies

Miller (2010: 50) said, “There would be no culture, no media, without labour. Labour is central to humanity.” And the funding of the Creative Industries Innovation Centre and Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation as described in the Strategy is attempting to link between industry and the higher education to further boost creative labor. National Broadband Network (NBN) reflects that Australian focus is on digital content and design. And investing in human capital is consistent with what the United Nations and Development Program have focused on. Additionally, the knowledge and skills required from workers in creative sectors are more comprehensive and mixed, while traditional education institutions are not flexible enough to impart these skills to employers of creative enterprises in time. But as Banks and Hesmondhalgh (2009: 420) put

The 21st century school library is the hub of student learning with librarians helping with research, encouraging students to read for enjoyment and developing their information literacy skills. All these aspects are important for the current generation of students who have been “raised with easy familiarity with video games, email, instant messaging…Web 2.0 social networking habits, they have developed patterns of engagement that are different from those of earlier generations.” (Godwin, 2008, p. 52). School librarians must create information literacy programs to include Web 2.0 tools to effectively engage this generation. (Carroll, 2011, p. 27). The Millennium Generation or Digital Natives are the first generation to have grown up with

The film “ Digital Nation” is an exploration of diverse people's views on digital media, in today's world. Some of the most important topics were on the virtual world, and the pros and cons of technology within different groups like gamers, students, families, teachers, administrators, children, military and businesses, as well as the experience of general people. In the movie, Prof. Sherry Turkle said, “Technology challenges us to assert our human values. Technology is not good or bad, is powerful, and it is complicated which means first we have to figure out what they are”. Currently, technology has taken over, wherever one, goes one will find it. Over the past years, social media in particular have spread worldwide; from Facebook to Instagram. There is constantly something new, extra advanced and creative. Overall, the technology has evolved the way humans interact with each other. In particular, technology influences by motivating students towards learning, saving time, building literacy and communication skills.

In today’s world it is a requirement to be digitally literate in order to be able to function in a capacity that enables one to be more successful whether it is at home, school, at our jobs or even looking for a job. Over the last few decades our environment has evolved into a digital environment. Being or becoming digitally literate is essential in being successful in this digital environment. Almost everything we do today requires some sort of digital knowledge or literacy. From surfing the internet to searching for a job to being able to perform our jobs, we are required to have some sort of digital

As technology continues to advance, online courses are becoming a favorable option for education. We can open our laptop at any hour, access the up-to-the-minute information, and learn in our pajama’s. According to a survey in 2012, Kelsey Sheehy with the U.S. News states “62% of colleges are now offering online degree programs” (Online Course Enrollment Climbs for 10th Straight Year). However, access to technological information is meticulously associated with one’s education level (The Information Revolution Has Created a Digital Divide, 3). Therefore, a division is created between people who do and people who do not have access to the latest information technologies which is known as the “digital divide.” To close