Change in culture; change in literacy

Ability to read and write, that is what literacy has meant, but nowadays its meaning is slightly changing in broad and different ways.

In history, literacy was one of privileges that noble and rich people could hold, and was presented as rights, power, and influence in a society. However, the world has been rapidly changed: there is no specific division on social classes, much more people are educated, and they are able to invest more innovative goods with their knowledge and intelligence.

I should not be too exaggerated to say that the biggest contribution of human ability development is technology. People were able to use technology only since a few decades ago, and its development is getting faster and faster today. Due to its advanced facility, our society could have been working efficiently. Technology not only changed the way of business works, such as many business moves into E-business, and sometimes people do not even need actual physical business to start new business, but it also dramatically affected the way of literacy.

There are some people see this phenomenon of rapid changes in the society negatively. Chris Hedges is one of the well-known journalists who try to deliver this idea to not only his audience, but also the world. He concerns that the increase of attraction of pictures and symbols of competitive brands will turn people illiterate and people will not be able to “differentiate between lies and truth” of the information provided to them (Hedges 1). His point is that because it is too easy to put information online, people should be more secured and aware of what they actually receive from providers. As “knowledge” becomes more plentiful for commoners, it will be harder for us to distinguish what is necessary or not.

Another writer, Nicholas Carr, gives Google as an example to aware people of danger of vast information given to people more easily. Google as a search engine contains countless data called Big Data, and is open to anyone who needs it. Therefore, people can merely search online without deep process of thought, instead of researching on their own in library for hour. This makes huge difference in people’s life. Because Big Data is given to people so naturally that they always seek for more convenient way to deal with problems. As a result, people cannot stand anything that takes long time. Developed technology easily disrupts people from one task to another one, because they are trying to be a “multi-tasker”. It is easy to notice that the process of thoughts becomes like computer (Carr 4). The facility brought by high technology makes people only think about efficiency in a short period of time and seek for best results.

The technology not only changed people’s thinking process, but also the language itself. As an international student, there was one time when I did not know what OMG or lol mean, and I still have much other slang to learn. The slang used online communicating may seem useless and not beneficial, but the reason why I learn these unnecessary words is due “literacy as adaptation” as Scribner mentions in her “Literacy in Three Metaphors” (9). Today, it is almost required to adapt something new every single minute of our life. Literacy does not necessary mean that you have to be able to read and write professionally; rather, it can be defined as if you are able to communicate in newly made language on social networking.

Going back to Carr’s example of Google. It is true that the unlimited data provided to people eventually leave nothing on people’s brain, but it is also true to say Google is one example of cultural changes in literacy. It is so common to say “google it” when someone needs to know unknown information. Google, the name of internet-service Company, has been registered in the Oxford English Dictionary as a verb, which means the way of people interpret this word has been changed. It is not merely a name of company, but the way of people react to certain factors.

Another example of change in literacy is the symbol of Cross. In early years of Roman Empire, cross was a torture device used to the most unforgivable sinners for crucifixion. It was a symbol of brutality during that era. However, after Jesus was crucified, cross became a symbol of God and Christianity. It is hard to imagine that people avoid the present of cross today; rather, there are so many people who admire its present and sometimes even become dependent on it. The word and its meaning were represented something inauspicious in history, but as our culture becomes, its meaning has been changed, which shows that the ability to read and write is not everything today. You have to be able to know how certain people understand certain words.