Technology is all about leisure. Ease of access, ease of use- it's sole purpose is to make our lives easier. Literacy, and its many formats, is not excluded from this ideal. It makes reading simpler, writing simpler, watching simpler. From e-readers to emails, e-books to blogs, reading material is being placed right under our noses. Even its prices influence us to buy these devices; e-books are typically much cheaper than the average paperback. They also take up much less room- but are only really worth the investment if the cost of the average number of books you buy is much more than the cost of the e-reader. In this way it both influences you to read on these devices, while setting you up for possible financial doom. As well, online articles and blogs sometimes provide more information than your local newspaper. Interesting facts and information that you would have otherwise never came across is available to many all throughout the interweb. Other forms of literacy, such as the aforementioned 'video', is a completely unique and, in recent years, solely digital movement. What was once only seen in cinemas and on your television, is now available all throughout the internet, displaying advertisements and how-to's for everyone. Technology's effect on literacy is most definitely a profound and ever-changing one.
As technology advances, our own connection with it adapts to its *flux* of information. We approach it differently, and use it in new ways. With online chatrooms, we can create new identities while talking to strangers. On gaming sites, we can roleplay and make ourselves into new creatures. With Facebook and Twitter ruling the online world, all of our information, our day-to-day lives, are available for perusal. We're forced to become private, unsure of the intentions of others. Even now, corporations and other workplaces require employees to give them the passwords to whichever social networking sites they use. In fact, a Canadian teen was recently fired from his job at GameStop as they did a routine check and discovered a picture of him "planking" (that Tumblr fad that took the world by storm a few months ago) on stands filled with video games. With blogs and vlogs, and other forms of self-expression, we find ourselves invested in the lives of others, muddling our values and our wants and needs. With the unprecedented boost of technology between the time of my birth and now, my generation has become that with the most self-photographs. It's the truth; it has given us a discreet way of "bettering ourselves" through makeup and ettitquete videos, or of posting photos of ourselves that have been edited by Picnik (which has actually waved goodbye to users). It allows us to become self-indulgent, shows us how to become diligent, keeps us connected with people worldwide, and provides others with a way to monitor us. Giving our profiles a two checks to make sure we sound approachable, without telling too much of who we are has become important. It has infiltrated our lives, and makes us more careful of who we say we are. Online, at least.
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| Does not belong to me! |
Sad to say that this is my last post pertaining to Ms. Powell's class. I've actually had more fun on here than I thought I would! I was afraid it would be a little too self-indulgent, but halfway through I realized that I didn;t write these posts with the wish that others would read it (other than you, Powell, ma'am), and since I'm just writing these for myself, I might as well write what I mean. In the lengthy, wordy, over-punctuated ways I tend to use. Thank you Ms.! :)
p.p.s I thought I'd link to this title's namesake. To listen to this adorably
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