Reading Change Through Time Essay

Many people are being distracted these days by the overuse of technology. It has become very difficult for people to focus on one task at a time. Also, people are forgetting some old ways of increasing their intelligence and ways of developing skills. In the article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” By Nicholas Carr, he argues that internet restricts the minds from increasing our ability to fully understand what we read online. He also argues that spending “too much” time online causes to lose the focus and train our minds to think more like machines. Also, in the article “Why Gen-Y Johnny Can’t Read Nonverbal Cues” by Mark Bauerlein, he argues that people are less interactive because of the more use of texting and online chatting. He argues that

Schools often require reading materials containing unfamiliar subjects to students. Recognizing that there is significance for critical understanding of the text itself as well as the act of reading, this explains why many students today struggle with reading material that is not relevant to their lifestyle. Freire portrays that by the statement, "reading the world precedes reading the word, and reading the word implies continually reading the world" (Freire 286). A person should read their world, and then interpret it. They can then use their existential experience of the world to connect to what they are reading in print, and better understand it.

　　In the essay “Reading and Thought”, Dwight MacDonlad talked about the kind of poor reading people are attached to in modern society. MacDonald believed reading materials such as Times and New York Times are too overwhelming for the readers. Readers tend to skim through the reading materials because most of the reading do not have any connections with their daily lives. Moreover, MacDoanld claimed that the readings people do these days are not thoughtful. The readings are rather irrelevant toward the readers. It is because the journalists to produce dull pieces of readings which are meant to be skimmed through without having too much thoughts involved. As the journalists do not have much consideration of the materials they produced. To the journalists the readings they produce are just a series of news that should be read driftly and left behind with no thoughful idea needed to be informed. These effects caused modern society to have a poor reading habits because people do not reflect and give time to think about the readings they did. Readers casually accept the readings even though they do not have provide any resourceful information for the readers.

It is true that people are becoming more and more reliant on the internet to do everyday tasks. I feel that Carr addresses the issue perfectly in his article “Is Google Making Us Stupid”. If we continue to use technology for everything, we will eventually lose all ability to deep read and make those critical connections that are necessary for true comprehension and application. He indicates that “the more [he] uses the web, the more he has to fight to stay focused on long pieces of writing” (736). Knowing how difficult it was to read and analyze Carr’s article myself, I fully agree with his claims. Having grown up in a world that has always had technology, I must be hyper-cognizant of the task at hand when it comes to something such as reading, particularly if it is something that I deem less than interesting. When I was finally able to get through the entire essay, I started to think about how much I use the internet. I must admit that

Many researches has been performed, showing a new type of reading. Many people today do not read the article or passage, they just skim the entire information given for key information.

In his article for The Atlantic, “Is Google Making Us Stupid”, Nicholas Carr gives the argument of how the internet is changing the way people are now reading less than they used to a century ago. People all over are becoming less interested in reading material that is longer than a few pages sometimes they can't even comprehend to finish reading a paragraph. The concentration someone had while reading a lengthy book is now gone, one of the smallest distractions can get your attention even just boredom itself can make you drift away from your reading. The more time people spend online, the more their ability to concentrate on their readings diminish until they no longer can stay focused on reading something that is longer than three sentences. Because of the way the use of internet on a daily use has made it more efficient for people to search and find what they were looking for right away, the need to be searching through books or other types of informational mediums, is no longer something that is done as often, sense it would take less time and effort to look something up rather than read through a book to find the

There is no doubt that we are quickly learning to read in a way so that we find only the information that is pertinent to us. Skimming is our way of adapting to the technology in front of us. According to Carr, reading nonlinearly and skimming greatly reduces our ability to think deeply. Carr argues that “What the Net diminishes is [Samuel] Johnson’s primary kind of knowledge: the ability to know, in depth, a subject for ourselves, to construct within our own minds the rich and idiosyncratic set of connections that give rise to a singular intelligence” (Carr, 143). Carr is right about skimming; when reading over something quickly we do not process what we are reading. There is no way for us to think critically about the piece we are reading without knowing all aspects of the text. We miss pieces that could give us a greater understanding. These are the reasons why we are going to lose the ability to read linearly and think deeply about the things we read.

Many people may argue that technology has helped us become more efficient in today’s society. Technological advances such as the internet and Google has also opened up many new opportunities for people. However, with such advances some may argue that we begin to lose some of our cognitive thinking ability. In an essay, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” by Nicholas Carr, he argues his thesis that people will lose concentration and cognitive thinking as a result to reading online. Carr begins by explaining how the many innovations of today’s technologies has changed the way one thinks. Carr continues by saying that the internet is affecting peoples concentration, however they use it for its convenience; to quickly scan an article and avoid “the traditional way of reading.” Carr then explains how Maryanne Wolf believes that the new style of reading has altered our ability to interpret and make deep mental connections. Carr shows support of how Frederick Nietzsche enhanced his style of writing beginning with a type writer in 1882. Carr then explains how neuroscience professor James Olds, discovered that nerve cells break apart and form new connections to form new habits. As explained by Danielle Bell and Lewis Mumford, Carr says intellectual technologies such as the mechanical clock, has divided action and thought; helping create the scientific method in a series of steps. Carr then explains how Alan Turning discovered that computers could be used as information processing device;

To truly be conversant, you have to form your own questions, not just scan for answers (107). When reading to absorb, and translate you must read actively and critically. (108) In order to do this you must, “pay attention to the actual words in a reading and to use them when you write” (Rosenwasser 108). This can be done by individually breaking down passages, and picking apart the meanings (108). When “Passing your eyes or highlighter over the text or generalizing about it or copying notes from someone else's power point will not teach you the skills to become an independent thinker” (Rosenwasser 108).

Technology is used around the world and is a valuable resource used in our society but our society has surrendered valuable reading to technology.

Through technology, people can connect with others and know what is going on in their lives, even if they live on the other side of the Earth. Technology makes easier for people to know what is going on around the world and makes people worry about the things they should not be. People can find all the information that the world has to offer online and people do not know what to do with it. So on the internet people just skim through whatever they were looking or reading. In article “Smart technology is making us Dumber” Carlson, Dan argues “that we are losing the ability to read deeply and, by implication, to think deeply” That is true because I personally do not completely read the articles on the internet and even if sometimes I do read the articles completely, I forget what the first part of the article was about. This happens to a lot of younger and my age group people because we are not focused instead we are thinking about irrelevant things like what we are going do after or what game are we going to play. Eventually, we are going to lose the ability to understand the real meaning behind

Carr quotes Scott Karp, “ What if I do all my reading on the web not so much because the way I read has changed, i.e. I’m just seeking convenience, but because the way I THINK has changed?”(Carr 2) This quote illustrates his idea that the internet is having a negative effect on the population’s comprehension and reading ability. The rapid way the Internet spews information at us has changed the way we read. I would argue that is not a bad thing, if you study about how eye sight works skim reading is the natural evolution of our mind. Our eye’s work in a certain way so that they do not process everything they see, causing phenomenons such as change blindness. The internet has caused us to start to isolate the important facts from essays and articles, Mimicking the way our eyes only process relevant information. Eventually the way we write will adapt to the way we read as everything changes based on the

Textual transmission is the permanent written form of words. The Bible is known as the most well-kept-up book to survive the ancient world. Many things went into keeping the Bible preserved and accurate over many years. God breathed inspiration into mankind to write down His word over time. Over time, people had to keep reconstructing the Bible into different languages for different people groups who needed the Bible. As time kept on, to keep up with the times, people had to rewrite the Bible over and over. The different versions of the Bible that we have today are due to people keeping up with the different forms of communication as the times have changed.

As we roll down the information highway via Google and other popular internet search engines, myriad facts, figures, and opinions are instantly at our fingertips. The question arises, does all this easy access of information add to our comprehension? Not necessarily. Noted American writer, philosopher, and educator, Mortimer Adler’s 1972 revised publication of How to Read a Book explores such ideas some 25 years before the widespread usage of the World Wide Web. Charles Van Doren, of 1950’s game show scandal fame, co-authored the revised version of the book. In the first chapter, “The Activity and Art of Reading”, Alder delves into contrasting several concepts that distinguish types of reading and their results. First, Alder explains the