The
main point Clive Thompson expresses, in Smarter than You Think Chapter Two
Public Thinking, is that the Internet creating a gate way for writing as a good
addition to society. His first claim is that the Internet is now making writing
more of a culturally accepted pass time and opening doors for people all around
the world to write frequently. His example is how before the Internet many
people did not write often if at all after high school or college, because it
was unnecessary. Thompson explains that leisurely writing was not common before
the internet, “Personal expression outside the workplace-in the curious genres
and epic volume we now see routinely online-
was exceedingly rare” (Thompson 49). Now blogging, and tweeting, and even texting requires non-students to think and write down instead of just saying out loud. Thompson also uses an example of a counter argument saying well one might disagree and say letter writing has dramatically slowed down since the 19th century, but in reality writing itself has increased. The number of emails and letter and writing in general has gone up dramatically since the use of the Internet. Thompson’s next claim is how there is now a higher demand for writing then there is reading. One of his examples is how parents focus on their kids learning to read more than they do on writing since in the work place reading is a more important skill. Now in the digital age writing emails and being able to communicate oneself through writing is just as important if not more important. Thompson then goes on to quote poets and how poets use writing as a way to express how they are feeling and to help them understand what they are thinking about into formulated sentences. How thoughts can be confusing and jumbled but on paper it is easier to understand what is going on. Thompson quotes Cecil Day-Lewis when stating a common quote among poets, “We do not write in order to be understood; we write in order to understand” (Thompson 51). This shows that writing can be a self recognition tool.
was exceedingly rare” (Thompson 49). Now blogging, and tweeting, and even texting requires non-students to think and write down instead of just saying out loud. Thompson also uses an example of a counter argument saying well one might disagree and say letter writing has dramatically slowed down since the 19th century, but in reality writing itself has increased. The number of emails and letter and writing in general has gone up dramatically since the use of the Internet. Thompson’s next claim is how there is now a higher demand for writing then there is reading. One of his examples is how parents focus on their kids learning to read more than they do on writing since in the work place reading is a more important skill. Now in the digital age writing emails and being able to communicate oneself through writing is just as important if not more important. Thompson then goes on to quote poets and how poets use writing as a way to express how they are feeling and to help them understand what they are thinking about into formulated sentences. How thoughts can be confusing and jumbled but on paper it is easier to understand what is going on. Thompson quotes Cecil Day-Lewis when stating a common quote among poets, “We do not write in order to be understood; we write in order to understand” (Thompson 51). This shows that writing can be a self recognition tool.
No comments:
Post a Comment