Changes and Technology - Free Paper Example

Introduction

According to Birkerts, the changes in the manner in which we interact with information has deteriorated over time. His attitude is clearly when he says that "We depend far less on memory; that faculty has all but atrophied from lack of use." He asserts that the way of reading of these times has made people dumb. He, however, applauds how we read by stating that experience has enabled people to read without making sounds of the words they read nor moving lips during reading.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

According to Birkerts, one of the most critical aspects of reading which has been lost over time is the loss of vertical awareness. He states that it is as a result of increased information which makes people only to acquire general knowledge about a subject which he terms horizontal awareness. He argues that since scholars of the past had few reading materials, they had an opportunity of reading the materials repeatedly and hence gaining more profound knowledge on the topic. The writer also asserts that today's readers are not connected to the articles they read, and thus the loss of the true definition of knowledge since the evaluation of any piece is based on the so-called facts. According to him, the optimal way of forming knowledge is by not only knowing of realities but certainties about human instinct and the life process.

Vertical Reading

Birkerts advocates for vertical reading over the horizontal reading. He argues that horizontal reading has made the human mind dumb since it does not focus on memorizing and internalization of knowledge. According to him, it has resulted in the production of impartial graduates who can not apply the learned information. Cronon also agrees with him in his article about liberal learning. Cronon (1998) states the various things that are supposed to be focused on in the education system to produce liberal individuals. The indicated proficiencies are practical skills which cannot be acquired through the study of bits of information as expected in horizontal reading but a rather thorough study and practice.

Birkerts and Leopold (2013) advocates for the need for balancing the horizontal study and the vertical study. They assert that both study types have their advantages in the sense that vertical study enhances increased knowledge in a specific task. At the same time, horizontal learning helps a student to relate the various subjects and hence increasing the understanding of the whole. Both writers suggest that vertical learning should take the higher percentage of the learning process through experience rather than rote learning which is mainly experienced in horizontal learning.

Conclusion

Although Adler et al. (2014) does not follow the idea of Birkerts (2006) concerning deep leaning, their presentation is very vital in research. The process indicated in the article is crucial in search of information in this age where the determination of the relevance of the materials to study is essential. It is, however, vital to apply Birkerts knowledge of deep leaning after getting the information about a subject to make it possible to use the learned information. Besides, the article reiterates the idea put forward by Birkerts on the connection of information in the world. By following the procedure outlined by Adler et al. (2014), one can identify the relationship even from different sources of information.

References

Adler, M. J., & Van Doren, C. (2014). How to read a book: The classic guide to intelligent reading. Simon and Schuster.

Birkerts, S. (2006). The Gutenberg elegies: The fate of reading in an electronic age. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Cronon, W. (1998). " Only Connect..." The Goals of a Liberal Education. The American Scholar, 67(4), 73-80.

Leopold, A. (2013). Natural history, the forgotten science. A Sand County Almanac and Other Writings on Ecology and Conservation. Book, 238, 411-415.