The internet and social media platforms have become so entrenched in our lives that it is hard to imagine a world without it. A world of information can be accessed by merely typing a request on a search bar, and every conceivable combination of results would be available to you in seconds. Communication is a simple enough affair now, with friends and family, and even people we have never met, knowing the details of every moment of our lives – thanks to the array of social media platforms available. And with multiple devices from Smartphones to iPads and laptops, communication and research has become both convenient and easy.
If you’re like me, caught between two worlds – a world where learning was all about researching, reading, summarising and eventually conceptualising and absorbing, to this whole new world of fast information and distractive hypertexts – you would understand my difficulty in embracing the ‘technological’ learning style (as I like to call it). Call me old-fashioned or maybe just technologically challenged, but I enjoy the weight of a book in my hands, the feel of the crisp page as I turn it and the run of my fingers across words and phrases that encompass a complicated idea. I find that this allows me to savour the content and enjoy the words that lead to an original idea, which eventually becomes part of me.
Don’t get me wrong, I do value the internet as a valuable resource, even an educational one. But I do feel that while there are people who have completely embraced the digital/technological learning style as their learning method of choice, there are some like me, who are tactile and physical learners. And I don’t only refer to the people of my generation, but to children as well.
Nicholas Carr’s book, The Shallows, discusses how the internet and social media platforms encourage superficial reading. It is a statement that is well argued as it refers to the constant distractions, from hypertexts to flashing digital screens, which hamper concentration and diminishes the capacity for retention. This new world of technology has created impatient learners with ‘fragmented knowledge’ who volunteer personal information and indulge in gossip.
I do believe we will evolve and eventually all adopt this new style of learning – it is inevitable.
However, for now I am just glad books, the real ones, are still with us.
