Devoss: The Future of Literacy Response 3
Devoss’s article, The Future of Literacy, investigates the lives of four people that launched themselves into the futures of literacy by interacting and experimenting with technology and computers when it was just an early invention. Joseph learned and developed visual literacy skills, Danielle honed her coding and-web design skills, Brittney worked on online language studies, and Charles worked through becoming literate in the field of gaming—all through self-sponsorship. The four people were self-sponsoring their own literacy in a world that was reluctant to jump into the new digital age. It wasn’t realized until some time later that being literate in these different subjects was necessary for the world to move forward. The 21st century is branded by the drastic differences it has in relation to the years before. As we move forward, literacy changes and develops in order to adapt to what the future has brought us.
Upon making advances in technology, the world has to keep up by updating the way that it understands those things: the literacies of the world have to be improved upon. Becoming literate in just reading and writing was once something that made you an intellectual and valuable member of society. Now, being able to read and write is only a fundamental step in getting ahead in the world. The way learning was approached in the past will no longer efficiently prepare people for success now that the world has adopted these new literacies. The future of literacy is not so much a part of the future anymore. It is in the here and now that it is important to understand how the world has changed and adapt it to the way we learn. We live in a more digitally complex world that will continue to grow around new advancements and innovative ideas. Just as the four people in the article did, it is now our responsibility to take advantage of these advancements and allow our minds to explore.
The picture that I’ve included with my response represents my idea that lagging behind in certain literacies (all literacies, not only reading and writing) limits the ability to move ahead in life. It will hold you back from things that you may want in the future and prevent you from being successful.
