New technologies and forms of communication are sometimes perceived with caution or even fear. Consider the following passage:

The supposition that [this medium] will provide something reliable and permanent is exceedingly simpleminded [and]...ignorant. [The originators of the medium] seem to talk to you as though they were intelligent, but if you ask them anything about what they say, from a desire to be instructed, they just go on telling you the same thing forever.... [The medium] drifts all over the place, getting into the hands not only of those who understand it, but equally of those who have no business with it; it doesn't know how to address the right people, and not address the wrong.

The author of these comments goes on to lambaste this new medium as a facile pastime and indulgence, full of lies, deceptions, and negative values, that will create a forgetful, slothful, corrupt, misguided, and ignorant populace. It will lead people away from the proper, authentic literate behavior in which they should engage. Further, it has nothing to contribute to education, individual development, or society.

Who do you think made these observations, and what was she or he talking about? (Make your selection by clicking on the name.)

Reading Online, www.readingonline.org
Posted July 2000
© 2000 International Reading Association, Inc.   ISSN 1096-1232