Core 1: Rough Draft

Justyn Cole
Mrs. Moody
ENC 1102
3 February 2010
Core 1: Exploring Digital Literacy
Technology is becoming more important to society by the day. Our stock market, banking, reading, even schooling is all online. The fact that many of our everyday needs rely upon technology, forces the individual in society to rely upon technology heavily as well. As far as literacy goes, there have been many arguments of why literacy should or should not turn digital also. As Steven Johnson says in his article on Bitmapping, as our machines are increasingly jacked into global networks of information, it becomes more and more difficult to imagine the data space at our fingertips (18). He believes that with the way human and technology interaction are advancing, it’s only a matter of time before our world is taken over by technology.
With the rise of computers and technology in general, I have begun to rely heavily on technology in many aspects of my life; in particular, my phone and my computer. With today’s advancements in technology, no one, including myself, wants to buy a phone unless it has many, if not all the qualities of their computer. We all want immediate access to the world at our fingertips. But what’s wrong with that? I believe nothing is wrong with that, unless one allows their life to be completely reliant upon that technology and leaves no room for adjustments for times when that technology is not accessible. For me, I feel that I am way too reliant on my phone for my social life. I go NOWHERE without my phone and I sometimes have a hard time not using it for hours at a time. I feel that my phone keeps me connected to my friends and family, which are two aspects in my life that are of great importance to me. This can tend to cause problems if I am at a place where cell phones are not allowed or don’t work.
As far as my laptop goes, I am not as much reliant on it as I am my cell phone, however it does play a big role in my life; mostly academic wise. Almost every college student these days has a laptop, and many people bring them into their classes on a daily bases. Just as books are starting to go from print to online, notes are starting to be taken on computers rather than notebooks. Now I don’t usually bring my laptop to classes, I'm still writing notes on paper and using flash cards and such, but when I'm in my room, my grades rely on my computer. Teachers post grades online, students register for classes online, students research on databases online, so much of our academics are online and technology bases these days. I believe that this can be a good thing though. I feel that our generation of students has many advantages that past generations did not. Technology, especially computers, can go into so much more depth than a textbook ever can, therefore leaving each generation more and more educated.
Jobs today are becoming more and more efficient because of technology. For example, now that we have X-Ray machines, doctors don’t have to guess what is wrong with a patient, they can see right through the skin! I plan on doing something involving medicine for my career, and with the rapid rate of advancement in technology today, it is essential that I keep up with the change in times if I plan on being successful in the future. This is a big reason why I am so interested in technology at my age because I know that in order for future plans to follow through as I want, I must be always learning. I consider myself pretty tech-savvy for my age. I can use a computer and many of its’ programs with ease, as well as phones and all their applications and such. I believe a big reason why I know as much as I do about technology is because of my families view on technology. My mom has always been very smart when it came to technologies, especially computers. She taught me the importance of knowing the many programs and it has paid off in my job career already. Over the summer, I work as a clerk in a medical clinic, where I enter data into spreadsheets/email/type up documents on the regular. I would not be nearly as efficient at my job, or possibly could not have gotten the job, if it weren’t for my mothers’ upbringing and her push for me to be educated about technology.