David
Wu
ENGL-191
Hennes,
Jack
9/5/12
Electronic
Literacy
Technology has evolved so that
people can do a lot of things on a cell phone. I'd prefer a phone
that gives me unlimited access to whatever, whenever I want as oppose
to someone else that may have different views, and that's why there
is a different type of phone for everyone out there. But previously,
I had thought I was an individual who didn't need a phone because I
thought it was just another big, heavy bulk of metal and plastic
weight to carry around, and would only be cumbersome to my daily
errands so I never asked my parents for one until they said that I
will need a phone to contact them if anything important comes up. So
when I first got a phone, it wasn't much to me and I didn't carry it
around a lot. But then I started adding my friends' contact numbers
into the phone and from there I got something known as a 'text
message' and it was the first time I saw strange letters with a
combination of numbers and special characters, also the text message
being very short compared to a grammatically correct sentence.
That was my first time seeing a
text message, and also not knowing what the message meant. And at
that time, I had just gotten my phone so I didn't know text messages
needed to come with a 'text messaging plan' otherwise there will be
extra charges incurred. Still, I text messaged friends and asked them
why they use shortened words and other slang. Luckily and gradually
they started telling me their perspective on 'texting' and how they
don't want to read long messages so they shorten the whole message.
My friends taught me how to shorten words too so I could become
faster and more street-smart when it came to texting. In the process
of my friends teaching me, I began to understand using shorter words
and also I noticed how much of a visual-oriented person I am. For
example, when I get a text saying something like, 溺eet
at the parkI see green-colored grass covered in yellow sunlight with
an empty baseball field that still has skid marks from previous
slides performed by athletes and there would be a long, gray bench
next to the long park pavement that splits the tennis court and the
far stretched meadow. The pictures that came to my head helped me
keep my brain constantly thinking and constantly improving on
analytical thinking. I started developing a more open-minded view of
the world.
Text messaging may have given me
a good idea of how the modern day society works in terms of
communications, but has become a big problem in my life. I have lost
a lot of encouragement from using shortened words and smaller
sentences. Therefore, I feel less obligated to write notes down, or
read a thick book. I also feel discouraged toward reading in general
and I have noticed my reading speed has decreased dramatically from
the constant use of text messaging and use of internet slang. Being
able to take long notes and discuss aloud and communicate verbally is
very beneficial for me, as I know I'm not just a visual learner but a
kinesthetic learner, too. Still with the ability to utilize smaller
sentences and shortened words, I feel like electronics have made life
more increasingly easy and with it, lazy. I feel like I've become
more lazy because of so much technology; a laptop to write notes in
so I don't have to physically use a pen or pencil, a smart-phone to
find information quickly whenever I'm curious, and a voice recorder
to listen to a lecture or discussion over so I don't need to take
notes down.
Technology makes me lazy and
require a lot less thinking. I can just look up information if I
needed to, and I don't have to walk around and ask a teacher, tutor
or assistant for help. I feel like the cell phone, and smart-phones
in specific, gives me options to slack off, too. I can look up
reviews on certain passages or text in a book, and find solid
evidence for backing up answers to analytical and interpretable text
so I feel like my whole category on reading skills has fallen far off
the edge and I still feel like I am falling behind. But even if
electronics makes my life easier so that I don't have to do much
work, I feel like my writing skills toward fictional stories has not
changed one bit from years back. I can write fictional stories
anywhere, anytime, on paper, on the phone, or on the computer.
I won't be bashful of how
instant messaging affects me, but I think messaging has really opened
a new path in regards to my social life. Before text messaging, to my
friends, I would be considered 'old-fashioned' or 'not in with the
new' which meant to me that I was not 'up to date' on their
standards. And this is just because, even with a cell phone, I was
calling people and actually talking on the phone. Later on, I began
to realize though that my friends and I could be in a situation where
it would be uncomfortable to talk aloud or a situation that would
require us to pick up the phone right away. So from my peers' points
of view and my realization of such situations occurring, I started
text messaging. And text messaging was a great way to communicate
actually; I could answer a text message twenty or maybe even forty
minutes later as opposed to a situation where I call someone and they
don't pick up so I get frustrated. There's no doubt in my mind about
the other advantage, thinking before I type words or backspacing
words that is not right for the situation. I can see a text message,
and really think and visual what I would say to this particular
person, and get a ton of time to really write something to me that's
'street-smart' or 'cool.' If problems do occur and I see the problems
on text messages, I won't have to worry as much as if I was actually
in that situation where I can't think of something to say on the
spot.
Text messaging really has pros
and cons to me. I can't even explain all the situations where I had
to wait minutes before sending a text message. But also, shortening
words help a lot to me. I feel like I can explain paragraphs of text
in just one, small, less than thirty words text message. Although I
expected too much from text messaging, and I got lazy towards
reading, I would say that if text messaging hadn't occur in my life,
I wouldn't be where I am now in the social aspect of my life.
