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Dongho Eugene Choi ID: dechoi

1)

Nicholas Carr is worried about the potential consequences of the way Internet has

revolutionized all mode of information transference and absorption. The software age has transformed

how we deal with knowledge, allowing immediate and universal access to hundreds of thousands of

blogs and articles online; however, as it has always been in every historical breakthrough in reading,

writing, and printing, with the creation of a new medium follows the destruction of tradition.

Numerous studies substantiate the theory that the medium we use in learning and teaching

continuously reshape the neural circuitry of our brain: in response to the terabytes of sports, news, and

social media thrown at us everyday, the mind can retaliate only by doing what it does best: adapt. The

only way we can contain such vast amounts of information is by skimming; the brain must be able to

leap from the news to email to blogs as quickly as possible. Furthermore, big-shot companies

encourage this link-to-link behavior since they capitalize on intrusive and distracting pop-up

advertisements. This general presentation of the Internet's contents degrade the mind's ability to focus.

Over time, prolonged exposure to the Web would beget severe reduction in the ability to concentrate

and focus on any one chunk of text for even a short period of time. These effects are exacerbated as we

begin to lose our traditional methods and medium of reading and learning; books are becoming

increasingly inconvenient to carry around and magazines and literary articles are becoming more

difficult to comprehend and contemplate.

Although Carr expresses this skepticism quite strongly, he agrees that his skepticism may

overlook the other myriad benefits of the Internet; nevertheless, he is expresses his apprehension that,

with the advent of this new medium, another great part of human culture may be lost.

2)

We are caught in the middle of two eras; as Digital Natives populate the world, the older


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generations worry about how education is and should be changing. Since the advent of Internet, the

ways children learn have radically changed, from the traditional textbooks and newspapers to the

modern blogs, and websites. Social medium and chatting has replaced the need for face-to-face

conversations and online articles almost eradicated the frequent trips to the library; tradition seems to

be fading out.

Thus, adults today worry about the future of education in the digital environment. They fear that

children: multitask too often, splitting focus into many activities instead of directing full attention to

one; have trouble focusing, as they cannot read a book cover to cover; and will adopt the readily

accessible plagiarizing culture that copy-and-paste features offer. However, Palfrey and Gasser

assures us that the fact Digital Natives absorb information differently doesn't mean that their methods

aren't effective.

Digital Natives learn by grazing, or what the we might call skimming, until they hit a topic

that interests them. Then they perform a deep dive, where they collect more information to make

more sense out of the subject. Ultimately, they will execute the feedback loop, where they will engage

actively with what they learned.

What is urgent is the need for the effective integration of technology into education. There is

much potential in re-focusing children's attentions to pro-social gaming and incorporating cooperation

with not only other students but teachers and adults as well in the digital environment. However, to

achieve this, we must bridge the gap between the generations and encourage learning in a digital

environment; only then can the future of education begin to take full advantage of the how kids learn in

this Digital Era.


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3)

It is good to be skeptical of anything new. Carr offers many instances where a great many great

figures vehemently opposed each transition in reading and writing: Socrates bemoaned the

development of writing [because] he feared that [people] would become forgetful; Squarciafico

believed that the printing press would beget laziness and threats to authority (Carr, 63). However, one

must be able to consider as well the benefits of the new. As Carr admits, there are bountiful advantages

that arose from each revolution in learning and reading; similarly, there is great potential for Internet

and technology to truly transform the way people learn today. This doesn't mean education itself will be

transformed. As Palfrey and Gasser put it, television didn't transform education. Neither will the

Internet. (250) Simply people must be able to embrace the new Digital Era in order to fully exploit the

benefits technology offers in the educational environment.

Carr complains that the more [he] uses the Web, the more [he] has to fight to stay focused on

long pieces of writing (Carr, 58). He says he no longer thinks the way he used to, offering numerous

research as evidence that, indeed, our brain continuously molds to accommodate the new ways of

dealing with knowledge in this case, for the worse. This skepticism can be shot down with Palfrey

and Gasser's more optimistic view of the digital age. Sure, they recognize the anxiety of parents and

teachers when they witness the multitasking and seemingly brief attention spans of modern children

(Palfrey and Gasser 244-245); however, unlike Carl, they acknowledge that these are the symptoms of

the failures of our current educational institutions to effectively integrate the digital environment into

today's systems of learning.

Branching from the problem of short attention spans is the ubiquitous art of skimming. Carr

describes it as zipping along the surface [of the sea words] (Carr, 57), as if the whole activity was

close to meaningless as it chips away at his capacity for concentration and contemplation (Carr, 57).

His opinion has some substantial justification, for big companies like Google capitalize on customers


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who skim hundreds of articles and websites each day (Carr, 63). However, he fails to acknowledge, that

the skimming, otherwise known as grazing by Palfrey and Gasser, is an essential component of the

three-part process of information absorption and comprehension of the modern era. When one grazes,

one only absorbs a headline or a bit more (Palfrey and Gasser 242) and mostly retrieves information

based on ease and accessibility (Palfrey and Gasser 242). However, this may lead one to delve deeper

into a certain matter; this deep dive (Palfrey and Gasser 242) will lead one to research a topic in

greater detail in order to make more sense of the subject. The process terminates at the feedback loop

(Palfrey and Gasser 243) where one will actively engage oneself in the matter. This outline of how the

Digital Natives, as Palfrey and Gasser call the present generation, absorb and process knowledge will

offer us a more complete understanding of how we may incorporate the Internet and technology into an

effective system of education.

Naturally, the older generation will that we will sacrifice something important not only in our

selves but in our culture (Carr, 63) as we transition into a new age. However, Palfrey and Gasser

assure us that books are not dead [and] culture is not collapsing (251). For many, books are

convenient they don't run out of batteries and many others still prefer the old-fashioned way of

reading cover to cover. Furthermore, libraries will remain not disappear; they will only be transformed

to accommodate the changes in reading and learning etiquette. Carr notes through various research that

our mind is shaped by the changing technology; instead of regressing and attempting to completely

preserve tradition, society should adopt the adaptations our brains have made. This way progress can be

made both in the way kids of the future learn and the way information can be spread around the world.

It is true that new forms of media shape the way we think (Carr, 60), and we should use this to

our advantage in order to accommodate the classrooms of the future. Of course, technology should not

be abused; the people should determine when and where technology is proper; it should be used to

enforce the curricula of schools and support their pedagogy (Palfrey and Gasser, 247). However, it is


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not solely up to the administrators. Schools of the future need faculty of the future (Palfrey and

Gasser, 250). Instead of shying away from technology, schools should invest in not only invest in new

technology but also how to utilize them effectively. Teachers should be trained to use new gadgets to

teach material in new and different ways, and the students should use the same technology to engage

themselves more in the digitalized classroom environment.

We are caught in the middle of a transition to a Digital Era. In order to effectively integrate

digital tools into school curricula, administrators cannot adamantly stick to what they once knew; they

must be able to completely understand the ways Digital Natives learn and to appreciate the

opportunities technology offers our society. Only with that knowledge can the adults determine the best

way to teach and guide future generations.

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