Readings // Eva

All the three texts brought up very interesting points, some of which had never crossed my mind before.

I was stuck, however, when I read Is Google Making us Stupid?. Like the author, Nicholas Carr, I also often find myself struggling to read longer pieces, such as novels or research articles. Indeed, it used to be easier for me to read these longer pieces a few years ago. I had never realized, though, that my brain could be changing because of how much I use the Internet -- for leisure, work and school. Yes, I must agree that "the Net is becoming a universal medium," as Carr said.

I'm not saying these changes (to Internet users' brains) are good or bad. If they are true, which science will tell us sooner or later, everyone should be aware of them, because then we'd have the need for two kinds of literacy: an offline, and an online. And both would be equally important. That is, it is important for kids, for instance, to be able to effectively read (print) novels as much as it is for them to be able to effectively read online. And this thought refers me to Literacy Debate: Online, R U Really Reading?.

The Internet shoudn't be the enemy of reading in print. It should complement reading and add to the users' knowledge. Parents and schools need to find a way to teach their kids to appreciate books and libraries as much as the Internet and all the wonderful resources it has to offer.

Carr says: "Research that once requires days in the stacks or periodical rooms of libraries can now be done in minutes." I do agree with him. What I don't agree is that one excludes the other. The Internet is here as a research aid, but it does not substitute books and periodicals in libraries. The Internet should serve as a guide to those in search of information. It is important for these people, if they have access to libraries (like we do at UT), to go after other sources of information. It is important for parents, teachers and professors to teach their kids and students that the Internet is just ONE of the resources available out there, that what they see online is not always true, and that it is important to question and not just accept what you see first. Kids need to be able to recognize what information is reliable and what isn't online. I know there is a lot of junk, but there also is a lot of good, useful information and articles written by scholars online. That's why I say that, when doing a research, the Internet can and should be the starting point, but definitely not the final one. These would be some of my answers to Alexandra Frean in White bread for yound minds.

There aren't answers, however, to all of the questions posed by the readings -- perhaps none of those questions has exact answers. This week's readings were extremely worth it in the sense that they've made me think about such a debatable topic (the Internet and its consequences to the society).