Okay, so the second reading for class was HEFTY. It was a thirty-two page introduction called Why You Need Digital Know How—Why We All Need It by Rheingold. In the piece, Rheingold thoroughly—very thoroughly—details why a basic set of rules, education, and knowledge is essential for those who dwell on the internet. Rheingold makes the argument that we have to be well educated in order to interact: “I didn’t let my child loose on the streets without teaching her about traffic ad looking both ways. I don’t like to see otherwise well-educated people loose in a digital culture without knowing something about what makes a small network work” (24). For a majority of reading this article, I was pretty unimpressed. I saw it as basically an old-person’s guide to the internet. My opinion changed, however, when I came across this little nugget of info: “Networks are where personal and public lives intersect” (24). That sentence made me realize that these are rules that apply to everyone, because I see young people—those who are considered “tech-savvy” and who were born into the digital and social media age—don’t follow it. I’m sure everyone and their mother can recall an instance that they have either heard about or seen themselves where a young person looks like an idiot in the public scope, seeming to forget the “public” piece is the central theme and essence of all of our digital interactions. This rule—that is quintessentially ignored by masses of people—is what made me realize that everyone could use a brushing-up on proper digital discourse.
Rheingold doesn’t make the internet the bad guy, however. He speaks about the many people—including himself—whose jobs and livelihoods depend on the internet and social media. The internet is super beneficial to both the content creator—journalists, bloggers, YouTubers, etc.—and the audience. However, it can only be beneficial if we are mindful, and collectively mindful at that: “we need to learn literacies of cooperation, mass collaboration, and collective action” (32). Online technology and the literacy that lives there is empowering and impactful and we need some balance, intelligence, and respect for all those who graze past our screens.
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AuthorAll blog posts are for class, but hopefully I can add a little bit of flair. Archives
May 2018
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