Yesterday, I brought my little sister to the library with hopes of getting her to read while working on my AP homework, but it took forever. She was constantly asking for the time and her ipad, getting up and down with a different book because the previous one was "boring". This really reminded me of chapter one in The Shallows:
"They supply the stuff of thought, but they also shape the process of thought. And what the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation."
Finally, she had read a book from cover to cover since I told her I would return her ipad for ten minutes if she did so - Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan. However, the only reason she had chosen that book was because she had watched the movie in her class months before. I asked her if she had liked the book, and she replied saying that it was way better than the movie. "Of course it is," I responded.
After playing with her ipad for ten minutes, I made her get another book. Unfortunately, she was continuously distracted, making origami and playing with a putty eraser she had bought earlier in the week. Confiscated. She became upset, again calling the book boring. However, once she started reading it she couldn't put it down, even asking to check the book out with my library card. There was no need, surprisingly, since she had finished it within an hour.
Reading The Shallows, Amusing Ourselves to Death, and (soon) Brave New World has opened my eyes. I no longer want to be controlled by the media. I want my little sister to have a childhood similar to mine - constantly reading books and being active outside - not stuck in her room playing on her ipad. Heck, as a child I once got in trouble for reading past my bedtime; I couldn't put the book down which resulted in my parents chucking it across the room haha.
I believe that the internet and television are really affecting our brains. It shortens our attention span and our "capacity for concentration and contemplation".
I find myself having behavior similar to your sister, in a way that has nothing to do with technology. When told to do something I am stubborn and convince myself I don't want to, and I continue having that mindset until I forget the reason I was being stubborn in the first place- that's when I really start to embrace that thing and take it for what it is. I'm a little girl with a lot of growing up to do, like I believe your sister to be, and that might be all, but it might not be.
ReplyDeleteIf it isn't, then I'm afraid if your sister takes to books and a rare occasion of technology. I was only allowed to use a computer when I entered the eighth grade, and currently, I don't have a phone and am only allowed to use the computer for about 30 minutes a day unless it is or homework. My entire direct family was raised the same, with whatever their version of technology was. I am incapable of playing video games, using any kind of app store, or changing a computers background, and that's fine, but at the same time I am incapable of communicating with someone in a debate manner unless the conversation stays in one place, and I am incapable of gathering main points and logically differentiating arguments or organizing something lengthy into something simple. Now I know I am smart, but all of those things are something most young people today are extremely good at doing, and I have a tendency to fall way short. Everyone around me is so good at speaking in a specifically fast-paced and free manner, and I end up feeling confused- and very stupid. And I feel like it will stay that way until I get as involved in using social media or reading articles successfully.
Now I'm not a super literature mind as Carr had said he once was, I usually judge a book I'll read by if it smells okay, but I can't help but feel more related to the way Carr used to be, and unlike him, I have a desire not to be. And my whole family feels the same. Ironically enough, we love technology, and most people who use it constantly seem to feel differently. This may just have something to do with us as a family, but if it's not, I wonder if anyone else, or even your sister if she is mostly raised on books, will ever feel like they won't be as clever or quick as everyone else unless they move forward into technology. Besides, we don't know if a mind raised through technology or a mind raised through a library is better, and I'm not so sure we know what 'better' really means.
My sister uses the ipad for the majority of the day. In fact, it belongs to her. I'm sorry if you got the wrong idea, in a way I was venting my emotions. She is very capable and has the highest grades in her class.
DeleteWe are all stubborn in many different ways. I myself am just like my little sister. Aren't we all, actually? While working on the essays, I continuously went on the internet (just started using gaia again haha), resulting in me procrastinating until the very last minute. Literally.
I find myself speaking too fast, not thinking before I speak. Not only that, I always tell myself that a specific homework assignment is a breeze, stating that it is easy. This results in me waiting until the very last minute to work on it. Yes I was raised with reading books, but once I hit middle school, I stopped since they did not have A.R. reading and I became busy with extra-curricular activities. I want my sister to continue to read as much as possible.
(I finally replied! Sorry for the wait. D:)
Oh my gosh! Sarah, Plain and Tall was one of my favorite books in third grade!
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I agree with you about no longer wanting to be controlled by the media. I miss playing in the streets and reading books for pleasure. I basically spend my days watching t.v. now because I feel too lazy to open up a book and try to understand it. Back in the Philippines, we didn't own a television or a computer so I was always doing something productive. I guess there really isn’t going back from how we are now because our brain is wired to accommodate the neurons that deals with the net or something, but I hope to not lose the deep thinking skills comes with reading a book.
Ahh.. the neurons. It makes me wonder whether or not we can reroute them to improve our deep reading skills and not PROCRASTINATE, haha. One would need superneurons to read my writing. :(
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