Reading Something Like Someone is Speaking
After reading “Old Media, New Media, and Knowledge,” I will have to say that I quite enjoyed reading this. The author, J.D. Applen had some points that I would liked reading about. To start off, I would like to discuss this quote he was saying about reading things like they’re speaking in that person’s language. “When we read something today, whether it is a book, a Web site, or a text message, we can “hear” the language we are reading as if it is being spoken.” This take on reading and thinking like someone is speaking it to you was something that I can relate to. Whenever I’m reading a story or an article, the writer will sometimes use certain words or phrases that help me understand what the author might sound like.
An example I could give is “His trousers were a little too small since his las growth spurt.” At first, I would have read the statement with an American accent or a voice similar to mine. But the word “Trousers” brings to my attention that maybe the person who is writing this isn’t American. I mean no one in America calls their pants “trousers,” so then my brain starts reading the rest of whatever it is in a British accent. I like the way that Applen had put that process into words; we all have a similar way or reading something while hearing it like someone is speaking the words to us. It’s a fun little brain experiment.
Writing Hurts Memorization?
Another thing that caught my attention is this is when Applen had started talking about Greek Philosophers, specifically Plato. Plato was brought up in the chapter when Applen was talking about Spoken language becoming written. He states that Plato hated this happening. “Plato lamented the loss of the practice of oral communication because he thought that we would lose our ability to memorize things if we began writing ideas down.” I heavily disagree with Plato’s take on writing things down.
I do not think we will lose our ability to memorize if we start writing things down. Actually, more often than not we remember things better when we write them down. It sort of makes our brains remember what we needed to! I do understand where Plato is coming, but I feel as though his take on the situation is a little closed minded. Think about it! How many times have you had something repeated to you because you couldn’t remember? Or maybe you have had to tell yourself the same order over and over again in your head but still got the order wrong. Sometimes oral communication isn’t as reliable as just writing things down. The story can change from person to person, or the message can be interpreted differently by everyone. Sometimes writing things down is the best way to get information to stick to it’s blueprint.
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