Blog Post 3

The most interesting point of Brandt’s essay Accumulating was when she was talking about Sam May’s experiences with literacy and how he had to become literate in social media which was just being invented at that time. Literacy has really grown over time and every generation has new forms of communication that they are expected to become literate in. At the same time, old forms of literacy drop off as time goes on they are no longer relevant. For example, when I have to read poems in old english I can barely understand what they’re talking about because so many of the words are different than the way that we speak now.

I got a chance to talk to my mom about the differences between our literacy educations. It seemed like the main difference between us was all related to computer literacy. When my  mom was in school the internet wasn’t as readily available as it is today so she did a lot of her research in library books. Both of my parents struggle with navigating social media sites like facebook and often have difficulty texting on their iphones (although they’re finally getting better at it)! I on the other hand, remember having typing class when I was about 8 or 9 years old. I also had to take basic computer classes so I could learn to use a Mac and a PC and learn how to use all of the computer programs as well as how to do effective internet searches.

Everyone in my family is a big reader. Unlike my technology education I got most of my reading skills at home. My mom and dad started teaching me the alphabet right away and always got me books and took me to the library. My parents have also always encouraged me to write and were always supportive of reading my poems. I was very lucky that my parents always made sure I had plenty of books and read to me because it definitely helped me get ahead in school and jump right in. Now I am returning the favor by bringing up to speed with new technology.