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Leon Lam, Lindsay Mooring, Maya Nguyen, Rachel Poston, and Heath Webb
UWRT 1101-39
Professor Ropko
1 November 2015
Digital Literacys Impact on Education
The United States is known to have the highest internet usage in the world. The country,
alone, is responsible for 29% of all internet usage, with Europe following behind at 23%. As for
college students in the United States, 93% of them say that they use the internet on a regular
basis (Wardle, 2011, p. 416). However, the question arises on whether or not this type of
technology, digital literature, has impacted students negatively or positively since its creation.
Throughout this essay, five students agreed that digital literature has impacted their learning
since a young age in a positive and helpful way. Before starting the interviews, it is important to
clearly define digital literacy. Digital literacy is the learning how to find, sort, evaluate, manage,
and create information in digital forms (What Is Digital Literacy?). With this in mind, each
interviewee shared their experiences with digital literature as a child.
From Rachel Postons perspective, digital literature has affected her positively.
When I was a kid, I had a neighborhood filled with kids my age and we all hung
out together. However, I remember my friends having time allotted each day for them to
sit down and read for thirty minutes. My parents never enforced that rule on me or any of
my siblings. So while my friends were reading a book, I was playing video games on my
PlayStation 2 until they were done. My games, especially Charlie and the Chocolate
Factory, had multiple levels. With these levels came instructions on how to advance on to

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the next level. This ultimately required me to read. I read instructions, tips given by the
Oompa-Loompas, and even random information on what certain objects were and how
they would benefit me throughout the level. With the time spent playing my video games,
I thought that I was actually being lazy and unproductive. In actuality, I just wanted to
pass the time so that I could play with my friends again. Little did I know that my literacy
skills were being improved while I was playing my games. As a result, I would have to
say that digital literature definitely impacted me in a positive way only because I took the
time to read. Even though I wasnt reading a book, I was still building my literacy skills
all thanks to my PlayStation 2 games.
From Heath Webbs perspective, digital literacy has made a positive impact on his life at
a young age.
My first encounter with digital literacy began around the same time I started to
learn to how to read. At a young age, my parents would read books with me. They would
read a sentence and then I would try my best to read the next sentence. As time
progressed, my parents and I continued to read together but then I reached the point in
my childhood where I wanted to read independently. I went to my bookshelf, picked a
book out and began to read. As I started to read the books, I began to struggle and needed
help. My parents realized that it was important for me to be able to read on my own. They
accomplished this by introducing me to Hooked on Phonics to help my reading and
writing skills. Determined to improve my skills, I would do practice exercises on Phonics
almost every day. As I progressed through the program, my skills in reading and writing
increased. Today, I am thankful that Hooked on Phonics gave me a solid foundation and
understanding of reading and writing.

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From Maya Nguyens perspective, digital literature affected her positively.
When I was a little kid, my dad usually babysat me in his room. I played with my
toys while he was working on his computer. At the age of two, I began to wonder about
the device that my dad used for his work. However, my parents did not allow me to use
the computer because they thought that it would not be good for me. Later on, my mom
gave me a Brick game for my birthday. I was so excited because that was the first time I
had used technology. I showed off my Brick game to my sisters and my friends and they
became jealous of me. My mom also set up various games for me to play on my device.
My favorite game was called Snake. When playing the game, I would make the snake as
long as possible and I would lose when the snake ran into the screens border. Every day,
I played this game with my sister and we usually had competitions. This was my first
experience at an early age with digital literature.
Later on, I started using a computer especially when I would go to school. I
would play computer games that my teacher had recommended for her students. Some of
these games helped me learn basic educational skills, such as math, spelling and reading.
Apart from games, I took computer skills classes which taught me how to type
correctly, use PowerPoint and other Microsoft Word applications. Learning those skills
were really helpful because I ended up using them when it came to frequently writing
papers, sending emails to my professors, and doing online homework.
For Leon Lam, technology and digital literature has positively affected his writing and
reading skills.

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Growing up in a household where no one spoke English, it was hard for me to
grasp and learn the language. I didnt hang out with friends either because I wasnt able
to understand them. Therefore, my only exposure to English was from digital literature
and school. When I was at school and had free time, I enjoyed playing video games and
watching television. But playing video games wasnt just enjoyable, I was also learning
words and learning to understand what words go with an object or picture. Every game I
played on my gameboy was a new experience and there were different things I learned
from each of them. Television also had a positive influence on me because I was able to
hear how each word was pronounced. This opened up a lot of words for me to use and
expanded my vocabulary in English. Watching educational television shows as a kid,
such as Sesame Street and Between the Lions, were a big help for my development in the
language. I wasnt able to get a laptop until I was in middle school, but I grew to
understand how to use it very quickly and was able to surf the web as soon as I got one.
Sometimes I would use it for online gaming. I became friends with others and
communicated with them. Over time, all the English I had learned from digital literature
has helped me tremendously. If not for digital media, my English would not be up to par
like it is today and I could still be struggling to grasp the language.
From Lindsay Moorings perspective, digital literature has also affected her in a positive
way.
Although I wasnt alive when electronic mail became a thing, I use it every day.
Theres actually a statistic online that states that 87% of adults use their email as of 2013
(Edley, 2014). When I created my first email, my best friend and I constantly used it to
communicate. We were obsessed with all things related to Disney Channel and constantly

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sent each other pictures and videos of our favorite actors. It was so exciting to be able to
communicate in that way when we werent together. Throughout middle school and high
school, I didnt use my email as much. I had a cell phone that could be used to talk to
people. I remember my inbox continued to hit the full mark because so many
advertisements from stores and companies constantly sent me information that I never
cared to look at. However, when I reached my senior year of high school, I checked my
email every day to see what colleges had sent me information. When I created an email
account for UNC Charlotte, I knew I had to check it numerous times a day. Professors
would send reminders and even assignments through my email. It was essential to have
access to the account, or I would miss something important. Although there are several
applications and pieces of new technology created every day, email is still used as a top
form of communication. When I looked it up, I actually thought that texting surpassed
emailing. Yet only 79% of people in the United States use texting as a form of
communication (Mobile Technology Fact Sheet, 2013). I guess you could say that Im
pretty thankful that emailing has allowed me to continue to develop my literacy skills.
Technology over the years has no doubt been a helpful tool for society. Even today,
technology is continuously improving the way humans live their lives. With digital literature, it is
the same concept and we can only hope that digital literature continues to have a positive impact
on future generations like it has on those interviewed.

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Works Cited
Edley, G. (2014, December 9). What percentage of the US population has an email
account? Frequently asked in. Retrieved November 3, 2015.

Mobile Technology Fact Sheet. (2013, December 27). Retrieved November 3, 2015.

Wardle, E., & Downs, D. (2011). Writing about writing: A college reader. Boston,
Massachusetts: Bedford/St. Martins.

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What Is Digital Literacy? (n.d.). Retrieved November 3, 2015.