A shifting paradigm: An evaluation of the pervasive effects of digital technologies on language expression, creativity, critical thinking, political discourse, and interactive processes of human communications

Abstract

Technology is an all-encompassing aspect of life in the 21st century. Its existence has implications on how communication occurs, education is shaped, knowledge is spread, and ideas are formulated. There is a significant shift taking place in society as we become more accustomed to existing in a digital world. Digital natives, young people who have been born into a virtual reality, view the world differently, have a ‘digital footprint,’ process info-graphics speedily, but lack basic capacity for interpersonal interactions. They also present neurological differences from those who were exposed to digital technologies later in life. However, regardless of human capacity for technological understanding, digital technologies adversely impact our shared humanity and the ubiquitous nature of these technologies is quite frightening. As a high school English teacher, I experience the impact of digital technologies on learning and language expression first-hand through my work with digital natives. My concern is that because of student dependence on the rapid influx of digital technologies, they will not possess certain imperative faculties of the mind including the ability to embrace mystery, wonderment, and inquiry. There is also concern for the potential loss of creativity. The research that follows attempts to evaluate the impact – both positive and negative – on the domain of language expression including reading, writing, and faculties for imagination and critical thinking. Through thorough examination of neuroscience, trends in reading and writing, usage of electronic communications, social media and politics, levels of digital literacy, primary observations of high school students in a tech-dependent classroom, the evaluations that follow form a basis for theoretical assumptions about technology’s impact on language expression and education.