Thinking about the invention of the World Wide Web and how far it has advanced and developed over time is quite simply overwhelming and amazing!!! We require any answers, in a simple click of a button you’ll have it, everything you need right there! What would we do without google? Don’t have an answer, it’s okay google is always there to lend you a helping hand!

Living in the society we do in this day and age, we have such high expectations of our technology. On a rare occasion where the internet wifi might be slightly delayed or slower than usual, we get so frustrated and angry, like what a major inconvenience right?? Prime example is my 13 year old Brother, who alike many any other teenage boys has a crazy obsession with the game which has taken over the nation: the famous ‘Fortnite’ video game. One night he was obviously in the middle of a very intense game and was screaming, from all the way downstairs, his piercing voice travelled through the whole the house “THE INTERNET IS LAGGGGGGINNNGG, EVERYONE GET OFF THE INTERNET I’M ABOUT TO DIE”, he was so mad. Without wasting any time he picked up his whole game set up including his huge monitor and relocated into our study, just so he could get a better Wifi connection. It was like it was the end of the world for him…. just an insight into first world problems right??

In this weeks class we focused on the web 2.0 as well as network literacy. ‘Network literacy is quite simply being able to participate as a peer within the emerging knowledge networks that are now the product of the Internet, and to have as ‘deep’ an understanding of the logics or protocols of these networks as we do of print.’

‘Network literacy is…understanding a kind of writing that is a social, collaborative process rather than an act of an individual in solitary’

Sure, network literacy has many benefits associated with it, but during further class discussions it crossed my mind whether this literacy is as beneficial as it comes across to be. By this I mean is it tarnishing our own ideation and decreasing creativity as we are becoming too dependent on external sources, than to think of our own creative content with our own knowledge? Our generation is so wired and surrounded by such advancements in technology and yes we are extremely lucky to have these tools and advanced programs at our fingertips.  But It just seems as though it really is proving to be a disadvantage to us, as we are so influenced and heavily reliant on this literacy which is waiting to be used and spoon-feeding us everything we need.

Miles, A (2012), “Network Literacy: The New Path to Knowledge”, Soft Cinematic Hypertext (Other Literacies), RMIT University, pp.201-208.