Richtel, Matt. (2010). Growing Up Digital, Wired for Distraction
Writing in the Works, Third Edition, p. 349-357
Contemporary technology has overtime
been adapted into our day to day lives; more so as the generation goes on. The
concern from both parents and educations is that "'we're raising a
generation of kids in front of screens whose brains are going to be wired
differently.'" (Richtel, 2010, p. 350) In Richtel's article, Growing Up Digital, Wired for Distraction, he
goes into detail about how contemporary technology has affected younger
generation and causing them to be more distracted. This includes students who
previously listened in class and got high marks change into students who are
glued to their devices for a long duration of time and doing poorer in their
education.
In his article, Richtel provides
subheadings for each section to divide up his thoughts and to make it easier to
navigate through the passage. Subheadings such as 'Growing up with
Gadgets" (p. 351), allow the reader to stop and think back on what was
discussed in the previous section. By doing so, the reader can make connection
in the reading between distraction, students, and possibly how it may also be
affecting their own children. Some sections are longer than other, which shows
that particular section most likely had more thought put into it than other
shorter ones. This sections could individually be directed to a variety of age
groups since some articles have to do with personal experiences that students
could relate to, studies which could be useful for researchers or parents, and
detailed information for parents in search of an answer.
Richtel's articles is 8-9 pages long
not only because of his interviews with the students, but also because he
brings in studies from neuroscientists to provide examples for possible
educated readers to get an in-depth understanding on why this may be happening
to students (p. 353-354). These studies take up a section of the article
possibly because Richtel may not have been directing his writing to higher
educated people, but perhaps to parents and students who would like a simple
answer on whether or not technology is harming the way that their child's
education.
He provides offline examples of students
influenced by technology to gives his viewers an understanding that he has gathered
knowledge about his topic. Such as "Vishal, a bright 17-year-old"
(p. 349) and their transformation into being dedicated to film making and not on
his studies. He also draws on a lot of research he has conducted himself first
hand and to understand the younger generation today and why is causing them to
be so sucked into the digital world. Through these two kinds of research and
gathering of studies, Richtel is able to create an article that could be read
by a variety of age group that it is targeting at and the reader would be able
to receive the message that the article is trying to tell them.
Sources:
Matt Richtel, "Growing Up Digital, Wired for Distraction" from
Writing
in the Works, Third Edition, p. 349-357