Social Media and a New Type of Learner

In an article from Signature Magazine (May 1970) the well-loved American news broadcaster, Walter Cronkite from CBS Evening News, questioned the sufficiency of television news programs. 

He believed that the limited reading ability of the American populous (in 1970) was not sufficient. (Please read the following quote,)

“The most severe problem is that television is all-pervasive; that it is watched by millions of people who either do not read at all or do not read well. Of the television audience, a number we cannot begin to estimate – tens or hundreds of thousands, millions perhaps – seldom read a newspaper or news magazine and never read a journal of opinion.

Yet on the network evening news broadcasts that are relied upon as the principal news source by more people than any other medium, the amount of news provided is skimpy. The total number of words spoken on any half-hour news broadcast is considerably less than the total number of words printed on any standard newspaper front page…

There is not time to develop, in any single day’s broadcast, every argument on all sides of an issue. Thus, the viewer who is not watching or listening closely may well receive an erroneous or merely sensory impression of the actual facts rather than derive an intelligent, cohesive picture from them …

Meanwhile, because of economic competition, the number of newspapers and magazines serving the American public is dwindling…

The result of all this is a genuine crisis in communications. Since a democracy cannot flourish if its people are not adequately informed on the issues, the problem becomes one of the nation’s survival.”

Social-media Learning versus Books

Are we seeing a new version of this problem?

Or do we have a new type of learner who can take advantage of social-media learning?

I recently taught a young teenager to read, after she had been deemed dyslexic.

(She had no problem learning to read when I used systematic phonics.)

This girl can carry on detailed conversations about her menagerie of pets, which has included lizards, a salamander, a tree frog, fish, cats, dogs and chickens. She has even learned to raise her own food for these animals. Her knowledge is astounding!

When her father became concerned about her inability to read, he encouraged her to use the internet. Most likely, she is an exception to the rule, but I dare to argue that she is better informed about the health needs of her animals than I am.

What is an educator to do?

I suggest that we encourage this new brand of research.

But not to the detriment of reading skills.

First, let’s teach reading.

Then let’s help young learners navigate their own world of information — the one which many have been studying on tablets and phones since they were babies in grocery carts.

(Note: This will require cautious guidance, of course.)

As for reading instruction?

Reading skills in this new environment are as crucial as ever, perhaps even more so.

I recommend the discipline of learning through systematic phonics.

You’ll be pleasantly surprised.

by Meg (homeschooling mom of 9)

MS, Exceptional Student Education (Univ. of W. Florida) emphasis on Applied Behavior Analysis

MA, psychology (Grand Canyon University)

Bachelor of Arts (Northwest Nazarene University)

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