Cover letter for an essay 400-500 words

Wanjun Liu

01/20/17

UWP 1

Revised- Digital Literacy Narrative

Do you agree that we are living in an era of smart phones and dumb people? My answer is a simple yes! The smart technology and the use of internet completely changes how people handle information. Digital literacy means being able to understand and analyze information and communicate by use of digital tools such as computer, apps, tablet, and smartphones among others. After I started using the smartphone, the communication has been easier and faster but the efficiency has brought with it a new challenge: my reading skills have improved while my writing skills have deteriorated.

It is true that owning a smartphone is very convenient to me in terms of communication. I still remember when I acquired my first smartphone, I was particularly impressed by the “smart” options it offers than the “phone” option. At the beginning, I have spent a lot of time to figure out the new smart features that the smartphone had provided. The most impressive one is that the smartphone offered me options of informal communication such as the use of social media. I used to watch television and newspaper to keep update with the latest news but my smartphone enabled me to get the same information available in websites or apps anytime of the day. I had downloaded a mobile Microsoft Office App for free and also made it possible to read, and edit documents using the smartphone. When sending group texts, the smartphone made it easier by offering an option of copy and paste feature which is convenient compared to retyping or forwarding. When sending text messages and emails, the worry of wrong grammar and spelling was lifted off my shoulder by the use of auto-correct option in which helped with correcting grammatical errors. It is really useful in improving spelling and grammar. The smartphone also offered an option of using emoticons, and emoji which can be incorporated in texts to express ideas and emotions. Moreover, I had downloaded instant messenger app which facilitate chatting with friends and families, for example, the Messenger. Even though the smartphone offered and has continued to offer efficient communication, the mind-blowing experience has brought with it challenges with regards to my reading and writing skills.

With e-books becoming easily available and preferred compared to printed books, I have discovered that I am not only prefer reading online and electronic books, I also hand-written minimally. Since I stared the college life, most of my class-notes are in the form of typed documents which I can easily access using my smartphone. Even when writing assignments, I have always preferred typing my rough drafts instead of using a pen and a paper. Another change brought by the smartphone is challenge of grammar and spelling when writing without the help of spell-checkers, and auto-correct. I usually seek quick answers from the auto-correct options or internet. I use technology to check on grammar, and spelling and also to find the word’s meanings, alternative words and descriptions when actually I can use my brain to think but because of the readily available smart technology, I avoid the trouble. Thus, the result of relying heavily on technology would have disappointed my previous English class teacher who always request her students to write essay in class by hand- written. My handwriting and spelling was bad. When my English teacher proofreading my rough draft, she had difficulties trying to read some of the words that I had hurriedly scribbled. Therefore, writing the draft by hand-written proved to be a nightmare for me.

However, on a positive site, electronic reading on smartphones has enabled me to have more access to reading materials. Electronic reading has greatly improved my reading habits. The sight of some bulky printed books sometimes make me feel tired even before I start reading. But with digital books, I can read several pages and continue later on whenever I want because I have a “smart” books with me on hand. For example, I am majoring in Managerial Economic, there are a lot of textbooks and reading materials that require to read everyday and even the Professor require me to bring the textbook to class every-time. But because of my smartphone, I can download all kinds of books, even textbooks in e-book version in my smartphone. I can carry several books with me everywhere without feeling the weight of carrying the heavy physical books in bags. Furthermore, the smartphone is able to download the different kinds of social media app such as “Twitter” and “Facebook”. I am enjoying to have fun with them because I am able to capture the first, latest news through those app. One of the my favorite daily habits is after read through the news or something interested posts, I will click on the “share” option to share to my friends and families.

All these changes brought about by digital technology use have affected both my formal and informal communications. Smart digital technology has changed the way we communicate. The new smart technologies have improved my interest in reading as information and books are more accessible. However, in the long run, smart digital technology might create more dumb-people who can hardly express ideas and ideologies in writing without the help of digital tools. Therefore, we have to realize that too much rely on technology is a source of concern. In the era of digital technology, we should use smartphone in a smart way.