The Internet: Tweeting literacy away?

In the latter part of the 20th century, technology became available to allow researchers to examine the detailed structure of the brain. Various techniques, grouped under the name of neuroimaging, can now display the surface and innards of the brain.

The brain has been undergoing changes throughout humans’ existence. For this discussion, one neuroimaging project showed that the composition of different areas of the cortex was different for a person versed in playing the violin in contrast to a person who played the piano (See The Brain, A NOVA program series, PBS, fall 2012). One might think that musical talent — string or keyboard — would be confined to one part of the brain, but it is not. Numerous studies show the creation of additional neural connections come about as a result of participating in an ongoing activity for a prolonged time. In effect, the brain rewires itself to accommodate a new pursuit. This transformation takes place to make execution of the activity more efficient.

An example of cerebral rewiring is the use of Twitter. We may have forgotten the time and frustration it took to learn the process. Several hours and many retries were needed to master the ability to key-in text with both thumbs and fingers. As we practiced, we became more proficient.

Our brain can be rewired to optimize new activities, such as playing a musical instrument. It changes its shape as it becomes more adept at coordinating motor and cerebral functions. Why should learning a new task, such as text entry, be any different?

The brain also rewires itself to accommodate the cessation of the practice of an activity. If tasks, once performed on a regular basis, are no longer performed, the brain adjusts accordingly. We forget how to speak a foreign language. We lose the ability to deftly break an eggshell with only a thumb and a palm. We become rusty.

Every human activity has an effect on the brain, and prolonged activity creates a change in its structure and operations. The change may be observable, such as changes that can be seen on the cortexes of piano and violin players who practice extensively on the respective tools of their trade.

What happens to our brains when we stop composing letters or emails? When we stop reading them? What happens when we stop doing what we once did? The brain composition for guiding these executions goes away. Other parts of the brain might take over, rewired to displace what are now nascent activities.

Does that mean that resorting to Twitter instead of email or hard copy dooms a person to illiteracy? Of course not. Nonetheless, it is claimed by some researchers that those who have had little exposure to writing complete sentences, the continuous use of Twitter further degraded their communicative skills.

Not enough text and too much tech?

Images such as those on Facebook and YouTube can be beguiling. However, an automated society — one that increasingly uses software and computer networks to solve problems — runs the risk of thinking of automation as a panacea to society’s literacy ills. In so doing, the society risks misusing software at the expense of under-using human labor.

This last statement might be construed as stating the obvious, but some schools have substituted the use of humans to teach students and replaced this personal contact and guidance with computers. As well, parents often forsake their roles as overseers of their children’s study and homework.

A study at Duke University tracked the learning progress of almost one million students in relation to the dates they were given access to computers and the Internet. The study showed that students having access to Internet-connected computers with little supervision about their use suffered a decline in reading and math scores. Other studies show that unless children are supervised closely by a parent or a teacher, they spend increasingly more time tweeting their friends and playing games rather than using the academic software of the networked computer.

Susan Pinker (in the NOVA program cited earlier) puts it well: “It’s drive-by education — adults distribute the laptops and then walk away.”

In applying computers and the Internet to education, or for that matter, any endeavor, it is prudent to be aware of the Law of the Instrument, exemplified by the child who picks up a hammer and looks for something to pound. Twitter should not be used to pound everything pertaining to the written word, nor should parents allow their children to engage in such pounding.

Coeur d’Alene Schools:

A model for emulation

I contacted representatives of the local school district where I live in northern Idaho. The information on the Coeur d’Alene School District 271 website and the correspondence I exchanged with the representatives of this district gave this writer encouragement that “tweeting away literacy” is being held at bay by some far-sighted educational institutions. Mike Nelson, the Director of Curriculum and Assessments wrote me:

“You would be surprised but we still do a great deal of sentence diagramming. Our curriculum has spiraled instruction that includes grammar and syntax in each grade level with the inclusion of literature starting in grades 04 and 05. In each year, we reinforce good grammar through fiction and non-fiction literature ending with British literature in grade 12. ...Yes, even though society may communicate in 140 characters outside of our school walls, our district insists on writing with conviction and purpose...”

Sentence diagramming was a curse during my teenage years. I hated its rigor. I found distasteful its insistence on speaking and writing with a semblance of structure. Yet, in spite of my teenage sloth, this part of my education forced me to come to grips with the architecture of the English language. Even against my conscious will, it subconsciously inculcated into me a smattering of understanding about the composition of my language.

Laura Rumpler, also of Coeur d’Alene School District 271, directed me to a webpage containing lists of books the school requires its students to read. The figure below shows a partial list of books (for grades 6, 7, 9, and 10).

As I read this list, I was encouraged, but I was also reminded of articles I have read about the reading curriculum of many inner city schools. Some of the high school students read at the grade school level. Having gone through college, Dexter Manley, the affable all-pro Washington Redskins football player, informed a Senate subcommittee he was essentially illiterate.

The Twitters of this world are not to blame for this astounding situation, nor is the Internet. Indeed, some anecdotal studies claim youngsters in poor African countries have improved their reading and writing skills by using texting applications.

(SEE ABOVE GRAPHIC)

As a parent, granted of a now quite mature adult, I hope each mother and father reading this article will take it upon themselves to follow the lead of the Coeur d’Alene schools and insist on their children doing more with our subtle, elegant language than abbreviated texting.

Uyless Black is an award-winning author who has written 40 books on a variety of subjects. His latest book is titled “2084 and Beyond,” a work on the origins and consequences of human aggression. He resides in Coeur d’Alene.