A Shift in the Constant (Essay 1 Rough Draft)

A Shift in the Constant

What exactly is it that spurs a child to put on mom’s lipstick or walk around in oversized high-heels? Why do the elderly take time to tell stories instead of making new adventuresome memories? Many adults look back on childhood as their best years, yet kids spend ages dreaming of adulthood. I am convinced this is because people have a hard time realizing exactly the beauty of the situations they are in until those moments have passed. These days, kids make funny faces at friends through devices, and often enjoy afternoons filled with various applications and touch-screen games. From the phenomenon described above, you would expect everyone to rejoice in these new, fun activities that youngsters love. Why, then, are new trends, such as blogging, causing such controversy? Because this time, generational changes are so drastically different.

Reading is a process through which an individual can understand both denotations and connotations of transcribed symbols. It plays a key role in communication and societal structure. By reading different forms of writing (blogs, poetry, prose, etc.), knowledge is shared and provokes unique thoughts to propagate through discussions or new written works. Its counterpart, writing, is the act of using lasting symbols to create meaning. It is an outlet and serves high importance for communication and organization for society. Through writing, one can organize thoughts for private or public purposes. It is obvious that both reading and writing are necessary today, so it seems only natural that forms for these two should evolve along with the dramatically changing world of technology we are experiencing. These are processes that have not been altered much since mankind began using them, though, so it is only natural that blogging would cause many to be wary.

            Blogging is certainly different. It takes form in concise, opinionated blurbs posted for any and all viewers. By publishing to the World Wide Web after hardly an editorial scan, thoughts are spoken exactly as you mean them. It is a quick and easy form of writing, because anyone can set up a blog through one of many free systems online. Posts are often informal, and must be recurring to keep readers interested. Blogging skips the editing process where others have a say in your work before the public eye does. In "Introduction" and "Coming to Terms", Joseph Harris discusses blogging as an art form. He interprets writing as a way to carefully spit back what one has understood from the words of others. He makes a great point that what we perceive and understand has a basis somewhere, so our thoughts are a collection of other people's thoughts, despite the fact that we may comprehend them from a new angle. He emphasizes in order to first understand someone’s purpose in writing, we must paraphrase his or her work in our heads. This paraphrasing is ultimately what would come out of our own writing, should we choose to publicize it. Blogging is simply an outlet for the rephrasing work we do in our heads. We do need to be careful, because often we only see the results we intend to see, not noticing things that counter the point we seek to confirm. According to Harris, “On the one hand… you need to be able to restate what she or he has to say in your own terms, to offer your own paraphrase of her or his project. On the other hand, you also need to attend closely to the specific features of the texts you deal with… or you run the risk of turning every text you read into a version of what you already want to say.” (Harris, 15). The issue of correctly interpreting an author’s intentions is relevant to novels just as much as it is to blogging. The difference is that in books and articles the author’s opinion has been formally organized, whereas through a blog we are closer to the original form of the author’s thoughts so it becomes more difficult to misinterpret intentions. Novels, articles, and the like are surely outlets too, but for a more processed form of writing. Blogging is the form of writing most directly correlated to the raw opinions we create.

Blogging invites us to make our own opinions more than any other literary form has the power to. Author Chris Hedges believes there are two different types of places. The first is literate, or able to determine lies from the truth in the massive amounts of information we process. He considers the literate a minority, and explains, in America The Illiterate, how he thinks the majority of America is fed lies and is “hostage” to brands. I get uncomfortable reading about tragedies and articles about dangers in this world, and yet those are the articles continuously published because people, myself included, read them out of fear and for entertainment. It’s terrifying to think news companies can have so much power over what we imagine to be the most prevalent problems, whether or not they truly are. Through blogging, we can have conversations with authors of works we agree or disagree with. This opens our eyes to the legitimacy or loopholes provided through authors’ writing. In addition, the explosion of the blogging age has given us incredibly easy access to the continuous works of massive ecosystems of writers who may never have taken the time to get published. Our resources are nearly endless, and the nature of blog writing helps us to absorb information efficiently through direct passages of thought, as opposed to formal writing we need to decode. In essence, blogs give us otherwise intimidating inventories of information so we can formulate our own opinions quickly, by providing background knowledge on the subject thanks to a vast selection of other people’s views.

It may appear that those bred into the new media age are inclined to appreciate blogging, whereas print and prose writers are not accustomed to the idea. Although the transition may not be immediate, this skepticism is not always the case. Andrew Sullivan, recipient of a Master in Public Administration degree from Harvard University, is a practicing Roman Catholic, openly gay, and HIV positive. He has loads to say, and his opinions err on the side of glaringly controversial. Sullivan is an author of five books, beginning and developing his career through printed works. In the middle of his career, he transitioned to blogging. Now, he loves it. “Alas, as I soon discovered,” he writes, “this sudden freedom from above was immediately replaced by insurrection from below.” (Sullivan, 3). Since Sullivan isn’t waiting around for his writing to be poked and prodded into printing, he has a direct route of communication to his readers. By posting exactly what he means, he gets feedback that is unwavering from its intentions. Sullivan appreciates blogging for the honesty it demands. When people have compliments or criticism, they are more likely to share it with the author if access to communication is easy. Through blogging, Sullivan knows immediately what people think of his writing, and can use his readers’ words as inspiration for a new post. He can’t escape unscathed if someone has harsh criticism of his words, but Sullivan is grateful for this opportunity to grow from surrounding opinions and be in touch with the people keeping his writing in existence. After all, blogs must be alive with continuous posts in order to survive and thrive.

Making a continuous piece of writing does sound treacherous, and traditional readers and writers may be more hesitant to follow the trends of today than Sullivan was. To examine potential fears of this mysterious technological era, Andrea Lunsford delves into the major discrepancies between the technological, blogging generation and its skeptical elders. The most common complaint about blog-style writing (and skipping formal editing processes) surrounds the mass-substitution of incorrect words. However, by cross-referencing modern written works of college-aged students across the country, Lunsford finds:

“…While error patterns have changed in the last twenty-five years, the ratio of errors to number of words has remained stable not just for twenty-five years but for the last 100 years... Students today certainly make errors-as all writers do-but…they are making no more errors than previous studies have documented. Different errors, yes-but more errors, no.” (Lunsford, 2).

Since blogging has not been around for too long, statistical data about these trends is hard to come by. But the fact that even Lunsford’s limited data can prove criticisms unreliable is astonishing and makes a bigger point than the original fear of spellchecker misuse in proving blogging to be a massively neutral change.

It is clear that there are obvious differences between polished theses and publicized diaries, but what new style of anything doesn’t come with changes and sacrifices? Once adults learn to adapt at a fraction of the speed of our technology, they’ll be able to enjoy the benefits of blogging as their protégés already do. Until then, the problem lies not with the technology itself, but with the failure for some-who are used to literacy being a constant in their lives-to give blogging a chance.

Works Cited:

Harris, Joseph. Rewriting: How To Do Things With Texts. Logan, UT: Utah State     University Press, 2006. 15. Print.

Hedges, Chris. "America the Illiterate." Truthdig. 10 Nov 2008, n. page. Web. 28 Jan. 2013.

Lunsford, Andrea. "Our Semi-literate Youth? Not So Fast." n. page. Web. 28 Jan. 2013.

Sullivan, Andrew. "Why I Blog." Atlantic. Nov 2008: n. page. Web. 28 Jan. 2013.

Brain Dumping About Brain Dumping

I tend to have difficulty beginning my blog posts. Can you tell? The first line of a written work should draw in the reader, but in formal writing I usually come up with the catch after more of my paper has been developed. With blogging, I kind of tend to ramble until I come up with a string of thoughts and then they flow out like water rushing over sleek midnight rocks as it approaches an abyss of evening and lands in splashes as eloquently as an acrobatic cannibal. Yeah. My thoughts take a bit of processing before they become verbalized, and blogging has them just splatter across a screen as I think them. Because of this, my writing style has changed a bit, in that I think my words more slowly than usual… if that’s possible. It is surprising sometimes to read my strings of raw thought, but also entertaining and interesting to observe how those ideas might have been explained differently had I processed mentally before typing. It is neat to read my earlier posts, though, because they remind me EXACTLY what I was thinking about earlier readings just after I read them, so I feel like I am remembering more about the articles than I would have had I formulated themes and ideas before typing anything. I also think, as Carr suggested, my brain has adapted to having large quantities of information thrust at it, so I look for the most important pieces when I read. When I observe other people’s blogs, and my own in reflection, I don’t feel myself scanning for information and important bits because I am drawn to points as they are thought up, which usually makes for a more easy extracting process than formal writing with extensive theses provides.

I'm ltreliltae, cna't you see?

I found it interesting that the three angles Scribner used to describe literacy were adaptation, power, and state of grace. Actually, it would probably me more accurate to say he used those three categories to explain how the term “literacy” is so vague it can hardly be used with any certainty of meaning the same thing. In his first point, and in my opinion the most crucial, Scribner explains how people use literacy to understand each other and to thrive in a specific community. As soon as one steps outside that community, though, the sense of unity created by a common view of the purpose of literacy is lost. Scribner asks how we are supposed to define what level of reading/writing makes one “literate”, but I think it really depends on what is being accomplished in those communities and what literacy must be used for in that situation. For example, I have more than a 12^th grade education, which in most societies would classify me as literate. However, if I was dropped into the stone age, I would be awful at gathering food, starting fire, and probably at painting pictures on cave walls, too. In this sense, I would not be able to accomplish day-to-day tasks. Does this make me illiterate? On the other hand, I would be able to pick up on what cavemen were doing and probably learn incredibly fast. Does the ability to adapt like this make me literate in a social sense? Are there different senses of the word? There is so much to ponder here…

Lunsford more obviously contrasts Hedges and Carr. I read the Lunsford article much more intrigued than any we have read so far, and I’m not sure why. Much of that reasoning is probably due to the fact that it dealt with topics closer to home, in a more casual writing style with more information being thrust at me quickly rather than analyzed extensively (which would be appreciated by Carr with his water-sports analysis of speedily soaking up information). Lunsford’s article caught my attention also because he has statistical data woven into his writing. With so much of today’s stereotyping technology based around personal experience and views of youth, we lose the information about trends and comparison that can only come from years of studying the exponentially changing features of this new age.

Googly Goochie Goo

          I do not think Google is making us stupid, as in googoo-gaga stupid. I think we are smarter, as a people, than we were before, because of the access to such a wealth of information that the internet provides us. Without having to research for long or do our own experiments to learn results, our thinking has time to be taken to another level. But, I do think we feel stupid because we cannot comprehend what is happening to our brains until we have enough research to see and understand it. I was totally thrown off by Carr's note suggesting we might read more now than we did in the 70s and 80s. Yet, I guess that could make sense, seeing the amount of texts I read a day and random technological outlets to short passages I read on a daily basis. That's just it, though, everything I read is shorter. My favorite kinds of books are still picture books, and it certainly takes the perfect kind of focus to get through a novel or longer piece of writing. This is obviously true for others, because of the popularity of blogging, as we have discussed.

          Hedges believes we live in two different types of places. The first is literate, or able to determine lies from the truth in the massive amounts of information we process. He considers the literate a minority, and explains how he thinks the majority of America is fed lies and is “hostage” to brands. My English teacher in 7^th and 8^th grade used to always mock those of us in certain types of clothing. Let’s be real, it was usually Abercrombie, a perfect example (as he claimed) of us acting as walking billboards for companies. I mean it’s not that the shape of a word like Abercrombie is attractive, it’s just that we like the way the clothing fits, or we are just going with the flow of trends. We seem to do that with media, too. I get uncomfortable reading about tragedies and articles about dangers in this world, and yet those are the articles continuously published because people read them out of fear and for entertainment. It’s terrifying to think news companies can have so much power over what we imagine to be the most prevalent problems, but Carr and Hedges both speak similarly about the way we are force-fed information- be it news, researched facts, etc. I feel like things are so drastically different now with the media age that some serious implications will come about for the speed with which our society is changing. The problem is whatever the heck those might be.

Subconscious Skills Defined

Reading is a process through which an individual can understand both denotations and connotations of transcribed symbols. It plays a key role in communication and societal structure. By reading different forms of writing (blogs, poetry, prose, etc.), knowledge is shared and provokes unique thoughts to propagate through discussions or new written works.

Writing is the act of using lasting symbols to create meaning. It is an outlet and serves high importance for communication and organization for society. Through writing, one can organize thoughts for private or public purposes.