Jamie Saathoff
ENGL 1302.207
November 08, 2013
Communication in the Electronic Era: Youth Friend or Frenemy
We live in a very loud global environment, where there are screens at every turn
displaying audible and visual rhetoric and internet accessibility flows to our media devices like a
river constant. The internet has revolutionized digital medium and many elements of
communication like nothing before. As a result, an influx of communication progression in
reading, writing and social interaction qualities is evident among electronic technology users,
specifically youth, today. Examination on topic can seem overwhelming, however, analysis of
extensive critical studies is clear. We are amidst a Literary Revolution in a Digital World. One
that broadens the horizons of emergent youth on a continually evolving platform. In an
environment where the audience often becomes the author, young people are writing now more
than ever. Such global access and accessibility requires security awareness and regulation
reform, however, education integration and legal advocacy are simple solutions to continued
positive influences on modern literacy lifestyle.
The rise of computer usage and technology enables today’s society the ability to exchange
information and ideas on a regular, often constant basis. Such interactive rhetorical
communication has undeniably experienced evolutionary transitions through digital technology
advance. Rhetoric in its’ most primal state was in the form of oral performance to paper as the
written language and has taken many forms in the last several hundred years. However, the most
recent of change has been highly impacted by electronic social media application including, but
not limited to electronic mail, bulletin boards, blogs, forums, gaming, Facebook applications, as
well as personal and commercial commerce. Despite all of this change and transition, we as a
society, are much more literate as a result of the current Digital Age? Andrea Lunsford, Director
of Writing and Rhetoric at Stanford University, has gone to great academic length to prove this
theory. “I think we’re in the midst of a literacy revolution the likes of which we haven’t seen
since Greek civilization” (qtd in Thompson). She surveyed almost 15,000 written pieces from a
sample of about 150 Stanford students over a six year period. Her findings, Literacy in the
Digital World is in fact a new and evolving concept, however, one that has produced an era
where “young people are writing more than ever before” (qtd in Paikin). Surprisingly, the
variety of medium in which they are producing said literature requires a subconscious
understanding of literary elements. Kairos, Ethos, Anne Trubek, associate professor of
Rhetoric and Composition at Oberlin College, concurs insisting students step into her
“…classroom more comfortable with writing-better writers, that is…” as a result of Facebook,
Twitter and other personal prose (qtd in Thompson). Increased social media frequency increases
creative writing in a variety of situation with care of audience consideration and adaptation. The
fact that students today almost always write for an audience…gives them a different sense of
what constitutes good writing.
By what standards can these results be upheld? Parents of children ages 2 to 22 may argue
that their traditional face to face conversations are all but void in modern society and verbal
interactions are superseded by electronic medium texting, gaming and/or auditory distractions. Is
the fissure between generations unbridgeable? Some literary critics including historian of
science at Stanford, Robert Proctor, are convinced that this is indeed social setback which has
irreparable damage to cognitive development. Proctor is of the belief that the information
highway has a negative relationship between information availability and knowledge
consumption and comprehension or contextual understanding. He refers to the trend that
ignorance increases as information accessibility increases as agnotology, derived from the Greek
root agnosis or the study of culturally constructed ignorance. Proctor claims that ignorance is
constructed from an oversaturation of information to the extent that the desire for fact and
knowledge consumption is lost. (Thompson) While Proctor’s take is perhaps understandable on
a smaller casual scale, it is not an accurate representation of the youth population as a whole.
The US National Endowment of Arts Survey of Adult Literacy showed the first increase in
literacy in over twenty years with largest increases among youngest of adults (Paikin).
The rise of computer usage and technology enables youth the ability to exchange information
and ideas on a regular often constant basis. However, it is fast becoming common knowledge
that if, or more appropriately, when you make a mistake, it will never go away. As a result,
occasionally the preference of or necessity for anonymity arise in a variety of electronic
situation. The desire to conduct online exchange on especially a personal level is highly
desirable. Email, chat room discussions, and internet commerce are prime example of such
instances where one may not want to divulge his/her identity. The use of a pseudonym may
seem like an adequate enough process. NYU professor, Helen Nissenbaum is quick to dispel
this theory in her publication, The Meaning of Anonymity in an Information Age. This short
publication is revolutionary in itself. She verbalizes the fear of every ill-informed parent
responsible for the safety and security of adolescents in this modern world. The systems of
identity safeguarding by namelessness alone, she proclaims, either for personal preference or
security necessity, is insufficient in the Information Age. Nissenbaum embraces the positive of
electronic progression while advocating the controversial concept that there must be an increase
in anonymity regulation to safeguard personal identity on a national level. Protection of one’s
identity must intrinsically extend to all elements of personal information. Her influence has
changed the way the Federal Trade Commission dictates online privacy regulation and continued
revolution as she herself dictates; “This [concept of true online anonymity] is a moving target”
(Nissenbaum).
An especially elusive concept for digital users to adopt is that once again, something is on the
internet, it is infinitely available for anyone to discover, infer and use for privacy invasion
without knowledge or acceptance of intended subject. Cyberbullies are one such predator who
may capitalize on and often hide behind the online privacy regulations established to protect
young people from online victimization. Child Behavioral and Advocacy experts Snakenborg,
Van Acker and Gable collaborate efforts to delve into the realm of online experiences and
initiatives necessary to combat bullies. Interactive technology has made its’ way into the
everyday life of children worldwide. “According to a recent survey conducted by the Pew
Research Center, an estimated 90% of youth aged 12 to 17 years are active on the internet on a
daily basis and more than 50% of youth aged 12 to 17 years have personal cell phones” (qtd in
Snakenborg, Van Acker and Gable 89). Unfortunately, this increased electronic social access to
others provides an opportunity for the misuse of the technology. Cyberbullying is an
increasingly serious problem among youth with sometimes fatal consequence. Many bullies hide
behind a pseudonym in an email, chat room or blog allows for freedom of expression without
judgment or fear. Elapsed time on this concept now opens the door of uncertainty to who is on
the other end of the conversation by the same criteria. Adult supervision is usually not present or
aware of their adolescent’s online activities. As a result, parental involvement and regulation of
their child’s online activity is the first suggested avenue for the prevention and intervention
process to protect children from online predators. Additionally, Snakenborg, Van Acker and
Gable agree with Nissenbaum on the concept that education integration in both the school and
legal systems is vital in process to reduce or stop cyberbullying altogether by holding
perpetrators accountable for their actions.
The internet has become a gateway for information dissemination. Advances in digital
medium that relay electronic information include computers, portable devices and smart phones.
The revolution of this relatively new medium has broadened literary horizons of the generation
who has grown with it. As a result, literary rates of not only youth, but also adults willing to
embrace technological advances, skyrocket for the first time in decades. However, with
academic success, the seemingly inevitable predatory element surfaces, requiring
staunch advocacy for continued evolution in response to discovery of such pitfalls. Thanks to
the forward thinking academics who enlighten the public on the appropriate call to action in
hopes of dispelling myth and fostering continued advancement of literary progression in a
Digital World.
Works Cited
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