Are We Really Closer to The Greeks?

Are we really closer to the Greeks?
By Stephanie Holton

In his article “The New Literacy” Clive Thompson is arguing against the idea that kids today can’t write and technology is what is bringing on the down fall. He’s refuting English professor John Sutherland who thinks we are well on our way to illiteracy.
Thompson sides with Andrea Lunsford a professor of writing and rhetoric at Stanford University. Lunsford organized the Stanford Study of Writing where 14,672 samples of student writing were collected from in and out of class. After studying the evidence Lunsford says “I think we’re in the midst of a literacy revolution the likes of which we haven’t seen since Greek civilization” (par.3). The students were experts at deciding in what style would be best to write depending on the audience. Most of their out of class work was conversational. Thompson comments. “The modern world of online writing, particularly in chat and on discussion threads, is conversational and public, which makes it closer to the Greek tradition of argument then the asynchronous letter and essay writing of 50 years ago” (par.6). Thompson talks about how the concept of writing to an audience is a relatively new concept brought on by technology like the internet and cell phones. He doesn’t discredit good teaching though. He points out its importance for formal writing. Thompson sums up with his main point saying “We think of writing as either good or bad. What today’s young people know is that knowing who you’re writing for and why you’re writing might be the most crucial factor of all.”(par.9).
I had always looked at texting and such pretty sinecally. I felt like we were getting “stupider” and vainer and just totally unaware of what idiots we are becoming with all this short hand and incomplete sentences. Is it true we are closer to the Greeks? I believe my thinking goes along with the general view of the way technology has shaped out writing. But I was missing something. What I hadn’t thought about before was how much more we write today and the concept of audience. My parents never wrote anything except maybe a little note in a birthday card before they figured out how to use face book about 3 years ago. Having an audience gave them a reason to write. Technology was encouraging them to write more. It’s encouraging all of us. Between computer and cell phone we will never have a void of audience. Virtually the moment we think of something we have the opportunity to discuss it. This generation is highly social. Could that be due to technology that makes it possible to communicate at lightning speed? Or were we becoming more and more social all the time casing us to focus on developing said technology? Either way we are constantly relaying and discussing ideas with a sense of Perouse. Maybe we are incredibly vain but we are defiantly closer to Socrates way of being in a constant state of observing, analyzing and discovery.