Teenagers, Computers, and Literacy

Teenagers, Computers, and Literacy

My sister, Tiffany, is a senior at County High School in Smallville, Ohio, a suburb of Colombus. She is expected by teachers and peers to be able to communicate effectively with the use of computers. Through her daily interactions with the computer due to schoolwork and conversing using Instant Messenger, her literacy practices have been affected.

On an average day, Tiffany spends thirty minutes reading on the computer. This includes reading emails, reading information from websites, and reading for homework. For an additional ninety minutes per day, her computer-based reading is devoted to reading responses from her Instant Messenger conversations. This time is also shared with computer-based writing as she types her own responses to her online conversation. She typically spends an additional hour writing on the computer for typing homework, papers, or emails.

Tiffany feels that her time spent reading and writing on the computer has affected her literacy in a positive way. She is able to read faster and more efficiently. “I have learned to type faster and become more aware of what I am typing. Since I have spent a lot of time reading on the computer, it has helped me become a faster reader and helped me learn to skim through trivial information.” This is understandable because with any kind of reading, the more you practice it, the better you become at picking out the main ideas and focusing on the important points.

The computer has affected Tiffany’s writing skills in a positive way. When writing a compositional paper, she is able to utilize the computer’s assets to improve the quality of her writing. The use of the Thesaurus function has made her writings seem more professional. It is much easier to use the Thesaurus function on the computer than having to refer to a book. This works for Tiffany when she is unable to pinpoint the exact word that she is looking for, but it may not work for everyone. She is also able to refer to online resources while writing a research paper. The availability of an online encyclopedia is beneficial when gathering information on a topic. Also, the ability to refer to other Word documents, sometimes notes saved on another file, increases her productivity when writing a paper.

With so many positive attributes of the computer, there are also some drawbacks. Tiffany finds that her ability to compose creative writing is hindered because of the computer.