Technology and 21st century Literacy

Going back twenty or so years ago, those who were able to read, write, listen and understand, reason, analyze information, and what not, would have pet themselves on the back and called themselves literate. Over two hundred years ago, the few who considered themselves literate would have looked at the rest of the not-so-civilized world and feel special. They would have had not the slightest idea that the meaning of literacy would spread its wings and soar in the next several centuries to follow. Literacy has come to mean, in addition to the above mentioned, something more. Literacy, as we define it today, is “the ability to identify, understand, interpret, create, communicate, compute and use printed and written materials associated with varying contexts. Literacy involves a continuum of learning in enabling individuals to achieve their goals, to develop their knowledge and potential, and to participate fully in their community and wider society."(Wikipedia:Literacy)  However, to be literate today, one must be open to learn new skills, to be willing to adapt to the changes that occur in technology and to the way these changes shape the way we learn, communicate, work, and live.

Technology is a double age sword, however. Computers, for instance have the memory capacity of such greatness (I don’t know how many terabytes by now) and the ability of fast data retrieval, which no human can measure up to. I don’t know what you think, but I feel outrun by artificial intelligence. However, technology has become a part of our daily lives. It is a love/hate relationship where we manage not to check our Facebook today because it seems that it has become an addiction, but we must respond to that text message from our friend ASAP. Oh, I am talking funny again, or am I? It seems that the words in the English language are not simple and short enough, so we feel like more shortening is needed. On the waves of the network, there is no time to type long letters to let someone know that you will be right back. Why type all this when you can just write BRB. Talking about literacy, we rarely think about it, but computer language (and I don’t mean HTML or C++), has become a big part of our habits of writing. This however, could have a negative effect on the basics- English language grammar. Students become used to short-cuts such as col (cool), u (you) and they often type their school work this way as well.

On the bright side, technology has had many positive effects. “Advances in computing have expanded our capacity to solve problems at a scale never before imagined, using strategies that have not been available to us before.” (ISTE) However, students and teachers must keep up to date with these advances and learn and practice new skills such as computational thinking, in order for them to be able to take full advantage of the new opportunities that technology has made possible.