“O’Shea seems more the rule than the exception. In 2008, a research and consulting outfit called nGenera released a study of the effects of Internet use on the young. The company interviewed some six thousand members of what it calls “Generation Net”—kids who have grown up using the Web. “Digital immersion,” wrote the lead researcher, “has even affected the way they absorb information. They don’t necessarily read a page from left to right and from top to bottom. They might instead skip around, scanning for pertinent information of interest.” In a talk at a recent Phi Beta Kappa meeting, Duke University professor Katherine Hayles confessed, “I can’t get my students to read whole books anymore.” Hayles teaches English; the students she’s talking about are students of literature.” (Page 10, Paragraph 3)
Not to show off or anything, but in the third grade I set a school-wide record for most books read in a year. They weren’t picture books either – they were complex chapter books and every time I finished one I had to document it with my teacher. I read 202 books. As far as I know, my record still stands.The thing is, I can’t do that anymore. I used to be able get through Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone in one sitting. Now I have to take a break between each chapter. I just can’t concentrate long enough to stay put and keep reading. It’s unfortunate – especially because I intend to major in English.
I do indeed search for “pertinent information of interest” – mostly with academic reading rather than leisurely reading. To do so with leisurely reading would kind of eliminate the point.
We didn’t get a computer in my house until fifth grade, and I didn’t use the internet voraciously until middle school. My reading habits didn’t change until I began to embrace the in influence of the internet in my life. As a result, the way I pay attention has changed so that I can’t focus on a single stream of information. I’m a fast-paced thinker.
“A particularly striking illustration of how the Net is reshaping our expectations about media can be seen in any library. Although we don’t tend to think of libraries as media technologies, they are. The public library is, in fact, one of the most important and influential informational media ever created and one that proliferated only after the arrival of silent reading and movable-type printing. A community attitudes and preferences toward information take concrete shape in its library’s design and services. Until recently, the public library was an oasis of bookish tranquility where people searched through shelves of neatly arranged volumes or sat in carrels and read quietly. Today’s library is very different. Internet access is rapidly becoming its most popular service. According to recent surveys by the American Library Association, ninety-nine percent of U.S. public library branches provide Internet access, and the average branch has eleven public computers. More than three-quarters of branches alsooffer Wi-fi networks for their patrons. The predominant sound in the modern library is the tapping of keys, not the turning of pages.” (Page 51, Paragraph 2)
I spent a good portion of my high school career volunteering at my local library. The Brooklyn Public Library system loses more and more money each year. For awhile I wanted to go into the field of Library Science, but to be honest I fear for the future of libraries. Don’t get me wrong, I love libraries — if I didn’t, I wouldn’t have volunteered in one for so long. They’re important in terms of computer and internet access. They also provide the public with tax forms, voter registration cards, and other important government documents. But nobody borrows books anymore. Not when they can research infinitely quicker with Google. Libraries are still important fixtures for the public – but their research services are becoming obsolete. Which is a shame, because they’re supposed to be research institutions.