Are you living in the virtual world? The answer to this is yes, unless you are Amish or another culture that doesn’t use modern day things, you are in someway in the virtual world, whether this is on your phone, computer or i-pod. Frontlines documentary “Digital_Nation--Life On The Virtual Frontier” (produced and directed by Rachel Dretzin) questions our interactions with the virtual world and how it is affecting us. It tells about how kids in South Korea will stay overnight at internet café type places playing their video games. Some have even died from not drinking and eating while “gaming” for to long of a period. South Korea was one of the first to have the virtual world impact them so hard, but they are also basically the first that is rethinking the ways of the virtual world, and even setting up camps for kids to learn how to use their computers responsibly. Rachel Dretzin does not only focus on the negative of our virtual world but also the positive. For example the fact that for businesses like Second Life, they can have virtual meetings from all over the world. The creator said he has even figured it has saved them millions of dollars in flying and travel expenses. So for some saving money is helped by the virtual world, while schools are saving kids educations. A school in the Bronx was going under when a new principal Jason Levy took over, he turned the school around by bringing more focus to computers and virtual interactions in the classrooms. Only nine percent of students were at the passing math level, after levy took over the math testing went up forty percent. Some call this sort of teaching instant gratification education, so maybe it’s not as great as it seems?
Todd Oppenheimer Author of “The Flickering Mind” is the man who makes the claim about teaching with blogging and using the internet, as being “instant gratification education” he says that this kind of education is making all of our thoughts quick, with an instant answer, he is worried that none of the students will be able to keep one linear thought going. This I thought was a very interesting suggestion. Only because it relates to problems I see myself having, especially when writing. When I sit down to write I feel like I’m doing a good job, when I re-read my writing I realize that it seems like a lot of random ideas put into an essay, I have a hard time focusing on one single idea. Apparently I am not the only one, and MIT student was talking about how his writing is this way too. So maybe there really are downsides to all of this instant gratification we get in the world today. Maybe its giving us all a little bit of ADD. Not being able to focus on one single thing is becoming more and more common. Everything is becoming short term. Then again maybe we are learning more, when we think about something we want to know, it is now easy to figure out. So, maybe new ways of presenting our ideas need to be developed, just to keep up with today’s technology. Maybe people are changing, so maybe we need to change other things with the way people are changing.
"When I sit down to write I feel like I’m doing a good job, when I re-read my writing I realize that it seems like a lot of random ideas put into an essay, I have a hard time focusing on one single idea". I agree with you when you say that after re-reading your work, you often times find yourself putting lots of random ideas into one essay. I agree with you because, I am one to do the exact same thing. To explain, when I'm not solely focused on what I'm writing. You mentioned the MIT student, and how he finds himself writing this way too. Which leads me to confirm your idea that, "So, maybe new ways of presenting our ideas need to be developed, just to keep up with today’s technology."
ReplyDeleteExactlly Mary! I defintely feel that we are changing like they said but that it's not neccesarily a bad thing. We are keeping up with technology but we are not coming up with new ways to present our ideas, so the outcome is our scattered essays and quick moving ideas throughout projects. Someone needs to develop some sort of program that stimulates us just as much as an essay but also keeps up with how we are thinking today, so that we can present our ideas to our peers and professors.
ReplyDelete@lindsaybrown11
ReplyDeleteI think that many people today are suffering from ADD or ADHD some may suffer because when they are in class they get bored and their attention goes somewhere else and they find something else to do like browse the NET but I don't think that is the only reason why people are suffering from ADD or ADHD. Some people get really into their writing while others can barely push out one paragraph. I think that the person's personality has a lot to do with how they react to the new technology that surrounds us. I also think that the reason why we can't stay on a single topic is because teachers cram a bunch of information into our brains and the more we think the more ideas come to mind. This isn't a bad thing, people just need to learn how to react and accept this. As society and technology we do need to change with it. Many people are still stuck in the 70's where all this technology didn't exist! What was a computer and how do you use it? As all these new things are produced, we need to train ourselves to learn and adapt to the changing world.
I agree with both of you in that when I write " it seems like a lot of random ideas put into an essay." It's amazing that when we realize what an affect technology is having on us, we put together why it has been such an influence. I do find the "instant gratification education" interesting. Even though at the school in the Bronx, they were able to catch their attention by bringing in computers, how long will this grasp their attention before they need something more stimulating than that? Where do we draw the line?
ReplyDelete@marylousie
ReplyDeleteThat too has happened to me when I am re-read an essay I have written. I find that my thoughts are scattered and the paper doesn't really flow because I jump from one thing to another. Maybe this is a way of telling students that multitasking is not the best way to go when I comes to homework because it could affect your grade in English if you don't choose to go back and make the essay better, or it could take more time out of your day to rewrite the essay. Any way you look at it, multitasking cause the brain to be unfocased and unable to consentrate. So maybe it is best to do things one at a time.
@Makayla Paige
ReplyDeleteI agree that it does depend on the personality, but sometimes i wonder if tis making more of our personalities this way! People definetly need to learn how to keep up, especially our teachers, who teach us one thign and expect another.
@Alexgarcia
I agree with you here, "Where do we draw the line?" I suppose only time will tell if this method will work or if it really will just be instant gratification that we will soon get sick of, and want another way to learn.
I agree and also find this idea of "Instant Gratification Education" interesting. It seems that in this day and age we no longer retain information the way we used to. We simply can look it up on Google. Whether this is good or bad is hard to explain, on one hand having this much information at your fingertip is amazing. On the other how many of us truly "Know" things anymore, why would we when we don't need to, right?
ReplyDelete