Introduction
Ever wondered how difficult it would have been to communicate with each other in the absence of language? Believe it or not, language is the essence of communication that acts as a soul, nerve, and blood of thoughts. This is the principle reason why the first thing a child learns in speaking through an exposure to listening. And, what is later taught to him or her is to read and write. Therefore, listening, speaking, reading, and writing are the four fundamental ingredients of any language development skill. Of these, writing is one of the most important elements since it marks the beginning of knowledge acquisition and development in the true and visible sense.
It gives an ample reason to believe that one may or may not like the idea of writing at the early stages of life but it inevitably is the stepping stone towards being educated. Writing, therefore, is a very crucial aspect in the field of academic and formal learning. It is not only imperative to learn to write but also to learn effective writing so as to raise your communication competencies and standards to an advanced level. In this backdrop, certain views are shared in forthcoming paragraphs to explain the concept better.
Body
Born in a technology-driven era, I personally feel that life has become impossible without the technology-gadgets. Apparently, being tech-savvy is much important than anything else if you want to walk past a day’s life without facing die-hard challenges. Not long ago, it was me who did not agree to this fact until recently when I was enticed by one of the technology-created-miracles that got me totally addicted to the mechanized gadgets.
Being the avid-reader that I am, I have great passion and hunger to explore new and better options in the reading arena. Recently, I was introduced to the fascinating world of eBooks and eReaders. I was quite amazed at how much a tiny little sleek gadget can contain. I have a little library of about 100 odd books which occupies about one whole of my wall section whereas this little eReader has about 1000 books. And, it needs only a little corner of my drawer to keep it safe. It is interesting, isn’t it? This has brought a significant change in my reading style and habit. I can read, store, edit, and mark content as easy as typing on my mobile phone. Further, I do not have to worry about bookmarks as the eReader automatically marks the page each time you leave the application. For this, I do not have to carry hefty books wherever I go. Even I can order books online and get it delivered on the application in the technologized format. This has helped me make my reading experience so much easier and convenient. In this context, there are many writers who have described, interpreted, and explained the elements of language and writing through the application of human minds.
Argumentative Response from Carr’s ‘The Shadows’
Nicholas Carr’s book ‘The Shadows’ is a study of the effect of technology on human mind. This book deserves every reader’s attention. Through this book, Carr implores us to acquaint ourselves with the facts on a cognizant plane, and look at the implications of being addicted to technology. Further, the writer argues that technology has changed the way we look at things. It has changed the way we read, write and learn. In the modern context, we no more prefer to read books for information as each and every detail is available at just the click of a mouse. So, I could easily relate to the fact that we are getting addicted to being more screen-friendly users than book-friendly users of knowledge. This is shrinking our minds psychologically. Further, Car reiterates that internet has been gradually mending our brains, assigning different neural circuitry and reprogramming our memories. This book reinstates that, with the advent of internet, the capacity of our brain is slowly decreasing since its plasticity is being exploited by consistent and large-scale use of internet. During the course of analysis, the writer has taken a deeper delve to stress on his theory by inculcating ideas on Google, Friedrich Nietzsche, Nathaniel Hawthorne, neuroscience, Dr. Levy, Sigmund Freud and a series of studies.
‘The Shallows’ and other Books of Carr
Based on the application of comparative and contrastive study, I found that Nicholas Carr’s ‘The Shallows’ is a book totally different from his other works. Carr is a popular non-fiction literature writer. His works speak volumes of various aspects of life, ranging from technology to career, human nature, psychology, etc. It is my firm opinion that Carr has always effectively and consistently pointed out in all his works about the pros and cons of technology in our lives. On the one hand, ‘The Shallows’ is a very well-scrutinized work of Carr that dwells on the fact that the increasing use of technology is challenging human brain capacity to learn and grow. On the other hand, his other books such as The Big Switch, Managing Difficult People, Is Google Making Us Stupid?, The Digital Enterprise, etc. are business-oriented books to globalize the human minds in a broadest possible sense. While these professional books are offer a good deal of information related to business and provide some wonderful insights on the subject, the book, The Shallows, on the contrary, provides a clear picture of technology-revolutionized and -evolutionized psychology and its impact on our day-to-day lives.
My Personal Development as a Writer
Based on the aforesaid presentation of description, interpretation, and analysis, I am of the opinion that writing is an art. One learns and grows with it. I have myriad of experiences in my writing journey so far. When I began this journey, I discovered many areas that needed grooming to make my writing acceptable. At first, I was disappointed, if not disheartened, to learn the extensive work I would have to undertake to get my writing to attain the status of acceptable standards. Though the journey of my transformation in the domain of writing has not been an easy task, this uphill task and challenge has made me strong and confident. In the process of grooming and re-conditioning myself, I devised two important steps, and adhered to them. Firstly, I cultivated a habit of accepting all criticisms and feedbacks open-heartedly. And secondly, I have applied ethics of all the religious practices, feedback, and rules in the real life scenario. This nurturing and nourishing has helped me to develop and hone my skills enormously diligent approach and constant efforts. I, personally feel that one has to employ consistent and aggressive research to enhance learning on the areas of competence and performance to be improved. In order to improve it, the learning must always go on.
Conclusion
Based on the aforesaid facts and experiences, we can satisfactorily conclude that writing is an important aspect of self-learning and development. I have realized that with constant and concerted efforts, we can overcome the shortcomings in our writing, and make ourselves a writer coated with deep layers of creativity and innovation.
References
- Lehrer, Jonah (3 Jun. 2010). Our Cluttered Minds. Sunday Book Review. The New York Times. Retrieved http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/06/books/review/Lehrer-t.html?_r=0
- Goodreads (2013) . Nicholas G. Carr: Author. Retrieved http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/151353.Nicholas_G_Carr
- Carr, G. Nicholas (2012). The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains Retrieved http://www.theshallowsbook.com/nicholascarr/Nicholas_Carrs_The_Shallows.html
- Carr, Nicholas (2011). The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.
