SWA#3

In the interview “Am I My Brother’s Keeper” Elie Wiesel places a lot of his responses on his definitions of certain words and phrases.   For him the definition of knowledge is different from just information.  He says that we know too much and then says that we are informed of to many things.  It is not that we actually know too much of anything, but we are in a world where information is just a few keystrokes away.  We have the ability to gather information in seconds, but the difference between knowing and being informed is completely different.  Wiesel says, “Whether information is transformed into knowledge is a different story.”  If we take the overload of information and find something that we can stand for and that we can educate ourselves on through research of the topic, exposure to the topic, or simply finding a way to immerse ourselves in that ‘something’, then we will have transformed some simple ‘information’ into ‘knowledge’. 

Responsibility is another word Wiesel puts some stress on.  He says that it is up to us as ‘brothers’ and sisters to take the information given to us about things going wrong in the world, whether from natural disasters, civil wars, terrorist acts, etc. and make them our responsibility.  He says that in this world, we are either brothers or we are strangers.  To me it would be impossible to leave a brother or sister in need of something that I can give.  He says that because he has that knowledge then he “must keep [his] brother.”  With a world again where information is given to us in tons, we should be able to look for our ‘brothers’ whether it is a friend in need, a person at our school who may need help of some kind, or a family in Africa, we should strive to keep our brothers and sisters. 

Presence was significantly related to responsibility in my views, because Wiesel says that he “urges his students to be present when someone is in need of a human presence.”  Again it falls under our responsibility as compassionate human beings to strive to be the presence people fall on when they are suffering.  I agree with his statement that when you suffer, you need a presence, because when a time of suffering is there, knowing that you are not alone and have someone there willing to take the responsibility to be there with you makes a difference beyond compare.  

SWA#2

The quote Richtel uses from his text, “technology is rewiring our brains” means just that. In today’s society, the majority of the population has become dependent on technology, whether it is a ‘Smartphone’, a laptop computer, a PC tablet, or any kind of electronic device. With technology surrounding us many people believe they have become a ‘multitasker’, which is making them more productive and able to do more things that before technology they were unable to.  But in actuality “heavy multitaskers have more trouble focusing and shutting out irrelevant information.” Studies showed that people who believed they were multitaskers were more likely to have a lack of focus and were unable to keep a train of thought.  But the brain is made to be constantly rewired and is always changing.  The brain doesn’t stop developing after childhood it is continually changing to suit the needs of each individual person, which Richtel goes into more detail with his ‘Myth of Multitasking’.

According to Richtel his myth of multitasking is just that, a myth.  People begin to link multiple trains of thought with the ability to multitask, when to me that is just someone say they may or may not have an attention deficient disorder whether it is mild or indeed a case of ADD.  Richtel included some studies of people who were classified as multitaskers and people who were not classified as multitaskers and were put through the same tests.  Those people who were classified as multitaskers showed that they had more trouble filtering out irrelevant information, than those who were not multitaskers.  My views of multitasker are that people who believe they can multitask may just have a mild case of ADD.  I say this as a person who used to think I was a multitasker, but realized I was the farthest from it.  When I start something, something else either distracts me or I isolate myself to make sure I get it done. Which means I have to put my cell phone on silent or turn it off, I have to turn off the internet on my computer, and normally close myself off so that I can indeed get the things done that I need to. 

Richtel does a good job with the Campbell family as a way to connect with his readers, because each person can relate to at least one person in the family.  Either the young adult/teen who is always texting and getting distracted because of the social media, the father/worker who is always distracted by work emails or news, the mother who wants everyone to dislocate from the technology, or the little girl who is just getting introduced to the wonder of technology and has already become somewhat dependent.  It drives the importance in that this is happening to everyone not just one family, and that it is an issue that is relevant in today’s age. 

Reading Response

In "Is Google Making Us Stupid" Nicholas Carr argues the point that in an era where information is as easy to obtain as typing words into a search engine, we have become incapable of focusing like we used to before computers became a household object.  Jamais Cascio argues the other view in "Get Smarter" that instead of Google and the Internet making us 'stupid' it is make us smarter.
Carr and Cascio both argue that our way of thinking is forever changing whether for 'getting smarter' or becoming 'stupid'.  It is true that in today's world the way people are thinking is always changing.  The older generations were used to going through libraries and card catalogs to find information on what they needed to know, but now we simply type in what we need to look up and Ta Da on our screen are thousands of different sources that have the exact answer that we need.
 Though I personally do not believe Google is making us 'stupid' I am able to see where Carr gets his idea for his side of the argument.  Instead of being able to research and truly read a source we merely skim and pick out what we want for our specific needs. Though I don't feel as if it is making us 'stupid', I feel it is making us lazy and dependent on a source that works all to well.  But I can also see Cascio's point of view as well.  I do not feel as if access to everything on the web is dumbing us down, but giving us a resource that has infinite ways of giving us what we need.  In a way it is making us smarter. We can look up random facts and from then on we know something we did not know before.  All in all, I agree with both articles and see them both as valid points of the same argument.

August 23, 2011 In Class Writing

The point in the Carolina Reader assignment that I remember most, was the point Johnathan Carr was making about how Google was making people "stupid".  I don't think he was meaning for readers to take it literally that Google was making us stupid, but that the fact that Google has made the use of texts and books more obsolete.  He gives an example in the text that as a writer he used to spend hours in the periodical rooms of libraries researching his topic and now he merely skims papers and articles because he no longer is able to concentrate and delve into long articles. I remember this because I find myself in the same boat in that I am more likely to Google a topic and skim the article for the specific things I am looking for rather than read the entire article. 

SWA#1

My best writing experience was during my junior year of high school when I was given the assignment to write an essay on the comic book “V for Vendetta”.  I found it to be my favorite because “V for Vendetta” is my favorite comic and one of my favorite movies.  My teacher also made it a good experience because instead of reprimanding me and demoralizing me she gave me more positive reinforcement.

My worst writing experience was last semester when I was given an assignment to write about the marketing and branding of higher education universities, and instead of giving positive reinforcements, my professor gave me negative feedback and did not elaborate on ways to improve my paper. Instead my professor expected me to be able to push out an A paper without much feedback and not very helpful feedback when they did give me any.  Overall the entire class was a bad writing experience, but that was one of the more upsetting incidents. 

The one that affected me the most was the better experience, because with positive reinforcement I feel I am more able to go ahead with my papers and my assignments. I also feel I have a better chance of writing a “good” paper with positive reinforcements.