While reading and trying to understand Eyman with a quirked eyebrow, the first idea after reading “Digital Literacy” in Eyman’s “Defining and Locating Digital Rhetoric” was replacing the word “boy” with “student” from the title of Bad Religion’s song, “21st Century (Digital Boy)“. Now, as I write this post, the song is playing on repeat in the background. So thank you, Eyman, for reminding me of this absolute banger. (AN: This post has a read time of 3 minutes, and the song is 3 minutes and 7 seconds, so take a listen if you want while you read, too.)
21st-Century Digital Student
‘Cause I’m a 21st-century digital student who grew up in an ever-evolving digital world, I would like to consider myself digitally literate. According to Eyman, this does not just mean I can whiz my way around a computer. While I am the one whom my family calls when they have a problem with their phone, computer, etc., if we’re going by Eyman, this is more computer literacy. While a component of digital literacy, it goes beyond being tech-savvy. Eyman’s definition is broad. I believe that, in accordance with Eyman, acquiring true digital literacy requires critically examining how different groups and individuals communicate based on culture, ability, and other factors, as well as the social settings in which they communicate.
Eyman takes his definition from the National Council of Teachers of English. A line that stuck out to me was, “As society and technology change, so does literacy.” Going on to say how technology and its advancements continue to change literacy. I feel that, with every new update and release, not only does the digital world upgrade, but so does the 21st-century person who wants to stay digitally literate.
COVID & Online Learning
So what are the implications within the classroom of a 21st-century digital student? Well, let me tell you. Part of it gave me what I’ll say to my son if he ever tells me he doesn’t want to go to school one day: “When I was your age, school was a glitchy computer because the world shut down. Get on the bus.” Oh, I can’t wait to use that one. Six years ago—yes, SIX already, COVID changed the trajectory of the digital student forever. Given that the National Council of English Teachers included virtual classrooms as a literacy in 2008, they had no idea what that would become.
I was fifteen when school went virtual, and as teachers scrambled to figure out how to make a “2-week break” work for over a year of teaching, and students logged in and fell back asleep, if you couldn’t navigate this educational challenge, you sank. Not everyone at my school had access to a computer. Some had faulty wifi, and others had home lives where digital communication wasn’t really an option. While my generation is pretty adept with computer literacy, the complete shift to online learning, I believe, shows how Eyman’s definition of digital literacy goes beyond your skills with technology. The unique environment of students and the new digital learning spaces reshaped how everyone communicated and participated online.
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