What is the worth of words? - The Practical Futurist - MSNBC.com: "The obsessive measurement of long-form literacy is once more being used to flail an education trend that is in fact going in just the right direction. Today’s young people are not able to read and understand long stretches of text simply because in most cases they won’t ever need to do so.
It’s time to acknowledge that in a truly multimedia environment of 2025, most Americans don’t need to understand more than a hundred or so words at a time, and certainly will never read anything approaching the length of an old-fashioned book. "
OH. MY. GOD.
You have to be kidding me right? This is a piece of futurist satire, a joke, right?
He can't be serious in stating that reading isn't a vital skill, that no one needs to know how to read more than 100 words of text, that technology 'does it all' for us, and that reading isn't even a real 'ability'????
ARE YOU NUTS??!!!!
I'm not just saying this because I'm a student of information, I believe in technology and computers as whole heartedly as books, magazines, newspapers and other printed texts. I say this as someone who values the freedom, independence, self-reliance, and self-worth that come from being literate-- being able to READ. And I'm not talking about 100 words here or there, a few paragraphs, sounds bites, text snippets, text labels. I mean a whole news article, a commentary in a magazine, the recap of a sports event, a popular novel, a children's classic or part of the latest non-fiction best seller.
In our sound bite, quick clip, headline only driven world, this author seems to think that if our already ridiculously short attention spans can't digest it in a few words, than it must not be worth reading or knowing to begin with.
I'm so shocked, surprised, and pissed off at this view I can hardly think straight.
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