Using Online Reading Comprehension Skills

Children use a lot of technology. They use technology whether they are using social media, using a learning program, or reading an electronic book. The truth is, that there are more positives than negatives when children use technology. There is fear that if children use too much technology they will not have proper development especially cognitively. This paper will show how technology can benefit a child’s cognitive development.

Mr. Roemer (put credentials here) confirms that it helps students write more educated papers when they are allowed to bounce their ideas off of another person or compare what they have written with more reliable sources (source B). Sourcing other peoples’ work helps students become more informed so they are able to make a more cohesive argument. People in the same classroom are likely to have the same views because they come from the same area and live similar lives, so you may not find many contradicting views in the same school. With the addition of the internet, students can read different views on the same subject from people all over the world. Thus, they are able to form better arguments and form a more enriched

Pat Galagan, author of Technology and The Interrupted Brain seeks out a professional to explain this. Dan Willingham, professor of Psychology at the University of Virginia states, “Data from the last thirty years leads to a conclusion that is not scientifically challengeable: thinking well requires knowing facts, and that 's true not only because you need something to think about. The very processes that teachers care about most—critical thinking processes such as reasoning and problem solving—are intimately intertwined with factual knowledge that is stored in long-term memory (not just found in the environment)” (Galagan). This generation of adolescents is so used to looking up everything in the internet that their brains don’t go the extra mile to think and develop. Therefore, they don’t possess the amount of factual knowledge needed to mold higher level thinking and analysis.

There is no denying the incredible library of knowledge the internet has made readily available for all to use. Having such a resource is transforming modern society in many ways, as it brings insight and news across the world at a moment’s notice, all the while enhancing educational and technological advancements. However, according to Sven Birkets, an American essayist and literacy critic, in his essay, “The Owl Has Flown”, it is not without fault as observations are to be made on how this new resource has transformed people’s intelligence and wisdom. The author theorizes that the large, almost unlimited, library that is now being offered by services such as the internet, reshapes the public’s knowledge. Knowledge is transformed to be horizontal or insubstantial compared to the much deeper lateral understanding pertaining to older generations because of the amount of time they spent dwelling on a much smaller set of resources. This observation made by Birkets in the late 90’s is expanded upon, and modernized by Nicholas Carr, an American writer and author, in a more inflicting and self-reflecting article for The Atlantic magazine entitled “Is Google Making Us Stupid? What the Internet is doing to our brains”. Carr does not just blame the Google search engine in this claim, but the internet as a whole on how it impacts concentration and our ability to contemplate. These cognitive impacts are observed and explained in more scientific terms by Eric Jaffe, a regular Observer

The internet is a world wide web connection that unfolds endless possibilities to the users. The internet has many perks including the improvement of children abilities to read. From reading the article, “Literacy Debate: Online, R U Really Reading?” by Motoko Rich, I believe that the internet opens up a wide variety of opportunities to readers around the world and is an essential tool in this generation. The internet does no harm when it comes to getting kids to improve their ability to read. In the article by Rich, Carol Jago states “Nobody has taught a single kid to text message…. Kids are smart. When they want to do something, schools don’t have to get involved” (5). Today’s kids show a wide variety of reading comprehension and proves kids

After reading the article “Literacy Debate: Online, R U really reading?” by Motoko Rich, I believe that the internet is very beneficial in many ways but I also believe reading books is important at certain times. As being a teenager the internet has become a far better source when it comes to research. The internet is very quick on answers unlike books where you have to flip through pages for an answer to a simple question. Now why would someone choose to do more when they can do less with a simple click of a button? The internet is very useful; without the internet we wouldn’t have been able to have the opportunity to have this discussion here. On the contrary, the internet might be much faster with information but it is not always reliable.

This scholarly article features the relevance of technology when factoring into the cogni-tive development of someone during childhood. With more and more children having ac-cess to devices that connect them to the Internet, adults continue to worry about the ad-vent of technology having an adverse reaction to them. To find out if there was any corre-lation between the Internet and children’s cognitive abilities during their development, the authors sampled over 150 students between the first and sixth grades using questionnaires and

“Is Google Making Us Stupid” by Nicolas Carr, argues that using the internet to read is less thought inciting then reading books. Carr has focused on the various claims that support the argument above. The writer claims that the Internet causes lack of concentration as it is full of ads, hyperlinks, and other media which is meant to distract us. This he gives the example of someone reading the latest headlines in a newspaper site when suddenly a new e-mail messages announces its arrival with a tone of some sort. He says that the “The result is to scatter our attention and diffuse our concentration.” The next claim he makes is that the way we read on the Internet is changing how we use our brains to think; therefore making us less contemplative. Carr mentions Maryanne Wolf who works as a developmental psychologist at Tufts University. Wolf believes that when we read online we become “mere decoders of information”. I believe that Carr uses this example to give the illusion that when we read online we don’t truly gain knowledge but instead we just gather more information.

The digital revolution provides miraculously quick and effortless contact with information, wares, amusements, and friends. (Source 1) You’re not going to have much trouble searching up information because, with just one click, you’ll gather all the information you need. The Internet has made our lives easier by giving us feedback on what we search up. A few Google searches, some quick clicks on hyperlinks, and I’ve got the telltale fact or pithy quote I was after. (Source 4) We don’t worry much about not knowing a certain topic because we know we’ll find within a few seconds. Therefore those under age thirty are “the dumbest

Around the world, the internet is a resource where individuals can meet new people, do research, or access entertainment. Although technology can do many different tasks, it also can alter child development. The effects of child development have become a main concern regarding the internet. In their separate articles, Genevieve Johnson and Nicholas Carr discuss how the technological world is becoming hazardous for the brains of adolescence. The articles mainly focuses on how a person can resort to their brain changing as they continue to use the Net and the effected social behaviors on child development.

Carr’s premise is that the Web is interfering with our ability to focus on lengthy material. On the contrary, the internet is actually aiding our ability to focus on reading. This holds true for younger children, who are known as the digital natives in our generation. In a research conducted by The National Center for Education shows that “by altering the mode of reading material from traditional paper-based reading to online reading,” the interest of elementary school children increased (Wright 367). Because children of the 21st century are surrounded by technology, they are more likely to gear towards digital media for their mode of learning. Contrary to Carr’s view that the internet “is chipping away [the] capacity for concentration and contemplation,” these children are more likely to read and focus as a result of

Is the internet making us smarter or dumber? People continuously argue whether this rise of electronic use and internet in our lives is a negative or positive aspect. In June 5, 2010 Wall Street Journal article, Nicholas Carr raises and answer the intriguing question,“Does the Internet Make You Dumber?”Nicholas Carr argues that the internet has bad effects on our brain. He says that the internet makes it harder to remember anything, and that is harder to move memories into long term memory. Those who are continually distracted by emails, alerts, and text messages understand less than a person who can concentrate. Nicholas Carr points that the internet can change the way our brain acts. He states that those who use the internet are shallow, and the internet is causing irreversible damage to our thought processes and making us stupid. A week later, Steven Pinker counters Nicholas Carr’s assertions in his own New York Time article,“Mind Over Mass Media.”He argues that electronic technologies are not as horrible as some may make it seem, and he starts his article by addressing how“New forms of media have always caused moral panics”(199). Throughout his article, Pinker explains why critics, who accuse electronic technology as harming to human intelligence, are wrong. He suggests that,“these technologies are the only things that will keep us smart”(200). Through media and social networking, the internet brings people closer together and provides convenience for people’s life.

Reading is one of the most beneficial activities a man can do. Out of reading, man can be able to discover new things, concepts, places and people. More so, reading is a way to relax our mind and soul, going deeply through the world of story and improves our thinking and internalization process.

The Internet is considered to be a most important source of the knowledge, and it has played a bigger role in our lives. Everyone use the Internet on daily basis in offices, schools, libraries, and other places, around the world. While the Internet has made our lives easier in various ways, our skills in critical thinking and reading skills have declined. Furthermore, people depend too much on the Internet to solve their problems. There are many people who believe that the Internet is negatively affecting our critical thinking and reading skills. On the other hand, there are many people who believe that the Internet improves their critical thinking and reading skills.

However, some would say that within education, the use of technology can influence students to cheat or take the easy way out on their assignments. “Students today can easily access essays, reports, class notes, tests, etc. online, making it that much more difficult for teachers to know if the work their students hand in is original” (Ronan). This dilemma interferes with teenagers processing new information. The Internet is a great tool; however, teens may rely too heavily on it, and worse, believe everything they see. I believe that the internet can be a great source to gain more knowledge, however, one needs to acknowledge how to effectively use this tool to benefit them.