An Article On The Death Of Reading

Dana Gioia, the author of this article, claims that the decline of reading in America will cause negative effects in society. Dana Gioia develops this persuasive argument by discussing the possible social and personal problems that could arise with the decline of literacy. The author believes that the lack of literacy in America can begin to deteriorate our way of life.

Matt Richtel, another journalist agrees that focusing has become harder with the increase in the use of technology. He suggests the reason is because of how we obtain the information. “Scientists say juggling email, phone calls and other incoming information can change how people think and behave. They say out ability to focus is being undermined by bursts of information. These play to a primitive impulse to respond to immediate

If you couldn’t read or write, how would you tackle your daily life? Being literate is a crucial part of everyone’s life; reading and writing are essential for a person’s success. Every single day, it’s used, whether it’s for an Advanced Placement Language class or reading a billboard as you’re driving past. As a child, I grew up reading on a daily basis and I believe that I am as successful as I am on behalf of it. Countless memories have been created, thanks to the multiple books that have been read and the umpteen amount of papers that I’ve written. Throughout the numerous years of my education, my teachers and parents left a long lasting impact on my reading and writing skills.

They argue that the way they’re thinking is changing, how their “concentration… starts to drift after two or three pages” and that modern technology doesn’t push them to commit to a certain informational source long enough because “research… can now be done in minutes” (Source 4). The internet seems to have all the answers, which generally shortens the time needed to spend on an activity thus limits the room to think critically. And in this case, not only does it ruin our contemplation but also our concentration and patience because we expect the internet to feed us information. However, this is not all true because the “digital world lowers barriers to self-directed learning” (Source 3). There are many “new forms of media” people can explore with and use to carry out their interests, and they become more involved with their peers when they can learn from each other.

Not only is the way we view the world being altered, but also the way in which we receive information. Because the internet makes finding the answer to a question so easy, humans are beginning to want everything in an instant. I think the Internet has changed our expectations of comprehending text by reading and analyzing the text, to get it quickly and with giving little to no effort, or as some call it, “brain sweat”. Although it may seem that there is nothing wrong with taking a more efficient way, computers can only do so much. We must be able to recognize social ques and communicate with others. I agree with Carr’s statement that “if we lose those quiet spaces, or fill them up with “content,” we will sacrifice something important not only to ourselves,

Reading linearly is the process of reading left to right from top to bottom. Nicholas Carr, the author of “The Shallows” writes about how technology is affecting our linear way of reading. Carr tells us how it used to be easy for him to immerse himself into a lengthy novel but now he finds his concentration starting to dwindle after only a short period of time. Carr also argues that we are losing our ability to think deeply because we are able to access such a plethora of information so easily. Research has found that technology over time has decreased our ability to read linearly. This research goes hand in hand to support Carr’s arguments in “The Shallows”. Along with the exponential decline in our ability to

Art has been around for centuries, it has been used as a hobby, form of communication and for school purposes. Gioia uses facts from surveys like the 2002 public participation survey and the 2001 National Association of Manufacturers survey to support her claim that the declining of reading in America will have a negative effect on society.

First of all, Carr has pointed out that technology is taking away our ability to concentrate and contemplate. Due to the great database of the Internet, Carr found out that everything has become easier for him as a writer: less time spending for research, watching videos and listening to podcast is convienient and fast,… But riding along with those convieniences is the inabilities to concentrate. With all the times he has spent on the Internet, Carr now finds it hard to immerse in a book or a lengthy article, and he also notices that his concentration oftens “starts to drift after two or three pages.” As Carr stated in his article, the Net seems to have “chipped away his capacity for concentration and contemplation,”and it made him realized that the way he is obtaining information now is no different from zipping along the surface on a Jet Ski. Carr believed that the old research

At this rate, the story that Bradbury is telling could sooner than later become reality. A few years back, technology was not as developed and was just mainly for communication. Now there is no place to go but to facebook, instagram, etc. There are also gadgets such as spell check which isn't helping with education either. People are also starting to take advantage of technology, and to them there is no point to do the work when you could just look it up. According to TechnoBuffalo, "… 78 percent of teens aged 12 – 17 now own a cell phone..." This percentage has also continued to rise and has no reason to stop now.

Although I find that true, I still like reading a newspaper the old fashioned way, I like to hand write my notes and homework, read actual books, and go see a movie at the movie theater. Because of technology, our social relationships have changed dramatically. We'd rather text than actually talk to someone. There are people who could be in the same house or even room and text each other, instead of getting up to talk that person. We've become very complacent over time, as well as lazy. We are constantly trying to find ways to make tasks easier. This causes the world to be less of problem

Living in a society that uses so much technology and Internet on a daily basis, is the only type of society I will ever know. When I ask my grandparents about their teenage years and early twenties, they say that times were so much simpler. When people wanted to read, they physically had to go to the library and get the book. They couldn’t just buy it on their kindle and have it at their fingertips in 30 seconds. Back then you couldn’t just Google something you didn’t understand while you were reading, you had to use your brain and figure it out. Mortimer Alder in How to Read a Book, makes an point that media is making it seem unnecessary to think. If one does not think or use their own abilities, how will they ever reach their full potential?

If I decided to go backpacking through any country I think I would bring a book, a shovel, and a pack of cards. When I was younger, I would never have chosen to put a book in my backpack. I had a lot of trouble reading in elementary school so naturally, I started to hate reading with a passion. Everyone tried to help me out, especially my mom since she was such a huge reader. No matter their efforts I continued to hate it for most of my elementary days. Finally, my former 2nd-grade teacher decided to give me a different book to read. She explained that if I wanted to get better at reading, I would have to find a way to overcome my frustration. I knew that reading was really important and if I had a hard time just wait until I got to high school. So, for the

People are forgetting to get up and eat from their noses being on the screens all day. People are forgetting to exercise, when why should they if their cars and chairs go on by themselves. People are getting everything from devices instead of looking in the wonders of books. I am not one of those people.

Digital technology has become the wave of our current times. Most of society within a variety of age ranges are connected and/ or utilize some form of digital technology. Back in 2010 4.7% of society’s gross domestic product derived from the digital sector (Roberts &Micken, 2015, p.1). Digital technologies have made it possible for consumers to obtain products easier and faster. The decline of readers of USA Today is a direct result of increased utilization of digital media. This is part of a theory considered as Media Fragmentation.

Life is more simple with these wonderful devices, but we are becoming too lazy to pick up a book and learn things on our own. I feel like I and many of my classmates barley open a book for class, instead we use the internet for everything. This is becoming a serious issue. I feel that we are not expanding our minds like we used to back when technology was not as advanced. I remember back in middle school were the internet was available, but I did not let it take up time in my day. I found myself being more productive with my life back then. Now, I probably spent a fourth of my day using the internet, which is not necessary at all.