Are alternative texts making us stupid?

Nicholas Carr’s Is Google Making Us Stupid?  offers many positive and negative aspects caused by the internet for our thinking and learning. In an age where information is easily accessible to, as well as being inundated with more information than previous eras, “the Net is becoming a universal medium, the conduit for most of the information that flows through  . . . eyes and ears and into [the] mind . . [supplying] the stuff of thought, but also [shaping] the process of thought. (Carr, 2008). Additionally, Nearly overwhelming access to information and many multimodal mediums to receive information means that “we may be reading more today than we did in the 1970s or 1980s . . . but it’s a different kind of reading, and beneath it lies a different kind of thinking – perhaps even a new sense of the self” (Carr, 2008).  

However, Carr’s article also suggests that what the Net seems to be doing is chipping away at [the] capacity for concentration and contemplation” (Carr, 2008). There is a need for increased focus in order to read and write, with an increasing Inability to read and absorb longer text. A generation of skimmers and togglers are replacing ‘traditional’ ways of reading. It becomes necessary to “develop a mental circuitry for reading that is very different from the circuitry found in those of us whose written language employs as alphabet . . . we can expect as well that the circuits woven by our use of the Net will be different from those woven by our reading of books and other printed works” (Carr, 2008).

Roxie’s presentation on her experience of Prezi.com to engage with Slumdog Millionaire demonstrates how current technology is shifting to suit the learning styles of 21^st century learners. It allows us to engage with the text differently. Rather than present the intertextuality of the film through a more traditional way of writing, and subsequently a more traditional way of reading/viewing, students can ‘toggle’ their way around the material and present it in such a way that it allows for multiple levels of entry  and exploration. This may encourage students to view learning in a way that more closely aligns with who they are as members of the 21^st century and, ultimately, help them develop 21^st century skills through critical and creative with multimodal texts.

“Are alternative texts making us stupid?” No. But, it is changing the way that we learn, and think, and interact, and communicate, and understand our sense of self. Within the context of 21^st Century Learning, students need to be able to acquire and develop skills that allow them to understand, explore and think critically about alternative texts.  We, as educators, need to provide students with platforms to engage with such texts. The challenge is that many students do not know how or why they ought to engage creatively with these alternative texts. Infusing these texts in curriculum and instruction allows students to develop 21^st century skills through systems that are current and relevant, as well as, explore mediums that they may not be aware of, but may become particularly important in their post-school life.