..Essay

In today’s age it’s normal to see a ten year old carrying around a brand new Blackberry or Voyager. He or she is able to quickly find the buttons and text their friends back quickly as well as look at their favorite website on their phone. They then whip out their laptop and start researching something they want while talking to their friends online. They have a couple screens open, while texting on their phone, and keeping up to date with the new technology. I look down at my phone that is the size of a cordless house phone and think how much more advanced kids much younger then me really are. I wonder often if they value books as much as the internet and how this affects their use of language as they grow into this modern day society.

When I was a child, reading a book was at great value for my family because it was a way in which my mother knew my reading skills were up to par and I was actually learning through what I was reading. Every fall in elementary school, they would hold a program for a read-athon. In every hallway there were charts for each classroom with each students name on it. Every time a student would read a book it would be marked onto a paper in which your parent would sign and send into school with the student. The student would then be marked onto the chart onto the wall for the whole school to see. At the end of the read-athon they school would hold an award program and for every student who read over a certain amount of books. The student would receive an award in front of the school as well as your parents who are in the audience. I can remember wanting to read so many books just to have my name on the chart so you could tell your friends how many books you have read and how far you are on the chart. I felt like when I received my award that my mom was always so proud of me because I would look at her and she had a huge smile on her face. This program helped me in so many ways want to read and it had an incentive to make me read. This was my first impression of print reading. I valued it high and still do.

Looking at research on the internet may be false where as if it is printed in a book it is more likely to be true and accurate. The way things are written on the internet may also give the person a false sense of how to write language as well as how that person should write it into a paper. It may make them believe things that are not true and in result have the student get a lower grade on that research. Print material normally has correct language and correct information. Print material is also always at hand. You may print out a paper and have it on you at any time to hand it. When you e-mail anything you question if the person received it or did it not go through. If the letter is meant to be more personal I believe that print should be used. E-mails can be less personal and some people may read them quickly and not get that personal touch.

I know in today’s age I text more on the phone then I do talk on it. I try to text as if I was writing a letter because if I use short hand it sometimes shows up when I am writing a paper or something important. I am afraid this will happen to the next generation. I understand that language changes all the time. We have had Old English, Middle and Modern English throughout time but all are respected. The English some kids are using today some people may think are ignorant. If this language is continued throughout a period of time then this may be the new language which may not be respected and people may not take language as serious as it should be taken.

I think that literacy will be constant with generations but since some literacy’s are so new some older people don’t know how to use them. As time goes on and the older people pass away, the generation after that will have some knowledge about the technologies today. When that generation passes then the next generation is more knowledgeable about technology and will know what to do with it. Society will mostly run of technology and it will be more used then just plain old books. I am afraid libraries will no longer have use and may close. The reading programs in schools will diminish and school libraries will be turned in computer labs. The students will then ask what a library was and what it used to be used for. Going into the teacher profession I hope this is a question I will never have to encounter. If the internet is down and research cannot be compiled then students won’t be able to conduct their research at all. This is why we need books and why print is so effective and useful.

I do give the internet a lot of credit but I do not think that it should be used for everything. I value print such as books and such very highly. I understand many people, mostly older, have a hard time with computers but society makes it necessary for them to learn. Although the internet is useful, convient and quick speed it is not the answer to all the questions one may have. I do use the computer a lot in which I respect but I do value print more and it has made me a more literate person and student of the 21 century.