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Literacy narrative

What the internet is doing to our brains

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Digital or physical ? Digital or Physical?
People nowadays have their own preferences for many different things. For some of us
we prefer texting someone and talking to them on the phone, while others prefer talking to them
face to face. There are very few people that you see reading books on the train or during their
free time since everything can be accessed on your phone now. Before people would have to
write letters to communicate with someone but now, you can just send them a text message or an
email. Some of us prefer having a book or a newspaper in the palm of our hands so we can feel
the actual texture of it, while others would rather have it on their phones along with the rest of
their things. When you’re on a computer or phone reading something , to me, isn’t the same as
having the article on paper instead of on a screen. It seems more convenient for me to read
something on paper so I can stay focused on my task. On a computer or phone there are more
things that can cause distractions for one while trying to focus. For example, notifications from
social media can affect ones reading because if you’re trying to focus on reading something and
get a message from a friend about the latest gossip it’ll move your attention away from what
you’re focused on. Technology creates the opportunity for distractions.

Physically being on a phone or computer can change the experience of reading or writing for
the reader or writer. When you’re reading something on a screen its different from reading

something that’s on paper. Let’s say you’re reading an essay for a homework assignment and
you need to annotate it, on paper you can look it over and underline words you’re not so sure of,
highlight things that you think are important, make notes on the side so you can remember them
later on and also, write down the parts where you have questions. Meanwhile, on a computer or
phone, it’s more easy for you to get distracted by other things like social media and other thingson the internet. As you try to read that essay for class, you get a notification from a friend about something that you’ve been waiting to hear about all day. Next thing you know another one of
your friends post a video on Facebook and you have to comment about how they didn’t invite
you to that party that they’re in. Then , you start to notice these advertisements about some new
shoes that are about to be released and next thing you know you’ve got a cart full of things that
you want to buy. One thing after another time flies by and you haven’t even read the first
sentence of the essay.

For me I interact differently when a text is not online because I prefer it to be on paper due to
the fact that its more convenient to make all the marks I want and not get as distracted as on a
computer or phone. Having a hard copy helps you visualize what’s going on in the text and
become more intrigued while ignoring the world around you as if you’re apart of the text. An
example of this for me is , during my last year of high school I was given an assignment which
involved reading an essay online and summarizing what I read about. I was able to easily find the
essay online on my computer but, due to the fact that it was in my computer I had other tabs that
were open with other things I was looking at. As, I began to skim through the essay I began to
get notifications from my social media and from my email. I immediately went to check what it
was since I didn’t really put mind into the work that had to be done. In the back of my head I

knew that I had to get it done but I still put it aside and put other things that weren’t as relevant
ahead of it. A few minutes went by and then a few hours and I ended up looking for things that
caught my attention, responded to messages and put music in the background to help me
“concentrate “ more. I lost complete focus of my essay and was even oblivious of it being there. I
got easily distracted. It took me a while to get back on track , I tried to focus but I was more
entertained the other things which kept leading me away from more work. As time passed, I
realized I needed to actually start doing my work. It was becoming very late and I needed to get
this done before I ended up falling asleep on my work. Still struggling to finish my work I began
to write more and more quickly just to finish before I became even more exhausted. I wasn’t
putting my all in my assignment because I was rushing due to the fact I wasn’t on task the entire
day. At this point I figured “ this isn’t for me anymore , I have to stick to pen and paper”. I got
my pen and paper and did what I had to do. Besides the fact of being distracted all day I didn’t
do too shabby on my paper. From now on no more distractions.

Although using phones and computers allows us to have easier access to texts and
facilitates writing , it comes with a lot of distractions and doesn’t let you be as progressive as you
can be just using simple pen and paper. Having hard copies of you allows you to focus more than
on your computer. Computer and phones are great but they can make things difficult when trying
to focus. Simply using pen and paper allows you to get straight to work, have better focus, be
able to take more notes and have a easier time finishing the assignment on time without any
outside distractions because overall reading and writing is better when it’s not on a phone or
computer.