Will High-tech kids still think deeply?

High-tech kids will still have the opportunity to think deeply. While new technology has pushed every aspects of life to an incredibly fast pace, I still believe that there is a lot of room for critical thinking. In many ways, technology has provided the motivation and the means. Alvermann and Heron (2001) shared a story about an adolescent, Robert, who spent many hours at the public library, using the internet, to read about the Japanese animé Dragon Ball Z. Robert and his friend also had discussions analyzing DBZ characters, predicting upcoming plots, and researching multiple sources of information. However, when asked, Robert said he was not interested in reading. Robert has also been labeled by his school as being at risk of dropping out of school due to low reading achievement. In this case, Robert was practicing many critical literacy skills, but just not in a classroom or with school materials.

Tarlow and Spangler (2001) stated that the quick pace of a movie or audiotape may not allow a person to reflect deeply about the message while one may have more opportunities to think critically while reading and writing. I feel that there exist a huge element of motivation when it comes to critical thinking. For Robert, the motivation for him was the availability of the information in the subject matter that he loves on the Internet. For others, the thrill of looking at the number of hits on their website or weblog is enough to motivate them to write more and write critically.

On the side, it is ironic that sometimes in the place where critical thinking and writing is required, the joy of reading and writing is lost. A fellow student once commented that she used to love reading until she entered graduate school!

References

Alvermann, D.E. & Heron, A.H. (2001). Literacy identity work: Playing to learn with popular media. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 45, 118-122.

Tarlow, M. & Spangler, K.L. (2001). Now more than ever: Will high-tech kids still think deeply? The Education Digest, 67, 23-27.