Irtiza 1

Riasat Irtiza
Prof. Collins
English 115
9/29/15

Social Literacy Encoded

Social literacy is how a person navigates the world and how certain experiences change
who they are. It can be seen happening anywhere and be experienced at any time as people
experience the world they live in. Weve all had moments where were down on ourselves and
feel like nothing is going right, and weve all felt like text messaging a person rather than seeing
them in person. This is normal, and these are just a few of the many aspects of social literacy. I
feel social literacy today is mainly affected by factors such as human sympathy and technology.
For example, people love using smartphones, but do they really have any glaring features that
help us truly and physically connect with the world around us? I have learned a lot from my life
experiences such as going to school, doing political work, and from personal matters involving
family. Technology and kindness can affect social literacy in that they can raise and deter
peoples experiences with social literacy. I understand some people may feel these factors dont
essentially affect someones social literacy as they are very broad, however my experiences with
kindness and technology have all helped me build my idea of social literacy.
Personal experiences have increased my social literacy and made me learn some things
about the world we live in. I noticed students are generally confused in elementary school and
arent sure how or why we should treat each other with kindness, so they sometimes feel the

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need to fall to bullying and teasing. Mean classmates would often tease me for being tall and
skinny, and my friend for being short and fat, but we knew not to listen to what they say. I
learned that it is not what one says about you, but rather what you say about them because it
shows that you are being rude and making a snap-judgement on someone who could be a nice
person. If we arent kind to one another, this may lead to a decrease of human interaction which
can discourage many peoples social literacy. George Saunders gave a quote in his Class of 2013
Convocation speech to Syracuse University where he stated What I regret most in my life are
failures of kindness. Those moments when another human being was there, in front of me,
suffering, and I responded sensibly. Reservedly. Mildly. He is speaking about how even
though he may not have essentially been rude to people, he wasnt the kindest to them either. I
agree with Saunders point on how lack of kindness is regret indeed, as it is a regret I carry too
and maybe other people as well. While I was volunteering for the 2013 Mayoral Election in Los
Angeles, I would need to call people to see who they are leaning towards to vote for, and man
Ive spoken to some rude people. Some people would give a polite yes or no, while some
people would yell and make me feel like Im some annoying telemarketer who wants them to
purchase a service (no offense to telemarketers). One can argue that kindness isnt required to
have a functioning world, but I would like to say that it would make things much better. I learned
from this experience that clearly not everyone is kind, but if people made an effort to be kind, it
would make the world a more welcoming atmosphere, like family, where everyone tends to care
for one another in all situations.
My family is pretty close, but as the amount of technology rose in our home, interaction
between us as a family had decreased. We used to do various things together such as go on
family trips, have dinner together, and play games together, but we grew more reliant on

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technology and less reliant on each other as more of the well-known iPhones, iPads, and laptops
came to our access. I felt like we became disconnected from one another, and that wasnt
something I expected, especially from my family. In Johnathan Safran Foers commencement
speech at Middlebury College, he says, If a memory could be retained forever, captured in a
string of ones and zeros hovering above in an always accessible cloud, it doesnt move us. The
effort to forget is sweet. Foer is speaking about how people have begun to rely on technology
for specific purposes such as memory and that by doing so, we arent having the true experience
of what a memory should be. Memories are usually important to a person as they can remember
an experience that happened to them once upon a time, which can certainly build ones social
literacy. The use of technology is also related to peoples kindness being affected which prevents
their social literacy from developing as it should. Here is another quote from Foers speech, Its
harder to intervene then not to, but its vastly harder to choose to do either, than to retreat into the
scrolling names of ones contact list or whatever ones favorite eye distraction happens to be.
Technology celebrates connectedness but it encourages retreat." I agree with Foers point as it
states my point about how rather than having a conversation with someone or just asking how
that person is feeling are becoming obsolete due to the rise of technology.
I understand one may feel otherwise and say that social media and Facetiming for
instance bring people together, but it must be remembered that it is behind a screen and not
directly towards the person, where a true connection is felt. In todays world, we tend to stray
away from seeing one another in person or calling them as we could simply text each other on
our mobile devices. However, a question I ask is, do you feel the conversation you had would
have been the same if you called the person or went to see them in person rather than simply text
messaging them? I would think the answer would be no since during a text message you have

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time to reply with what you think would be appropriate, or you have the option to not reply at all.
Some may feel that text messaging is an easier way to communicate with one another, for
example Anna, a then 13-year old living in suburban Chicago, says There are people youll text,
but wont call. Its just awkward that way. Id like to bring back my point regarding how
communication technologies such as social media and Facetime arent as personal and
connective as speaking to someone in person, since Anna conveyed my point by saying she uses
a communication technology such as texting, to avoid the awkward moment of having to see
someone in person. Technology has certainly made our social lives easier, but technology has
also made kindness and normal interaction a bit more difficult.
As you can see, social literacy is a very extensive topic which can be experienced
differently, but it has the specific idea of teaching us lessons about the world and people we live
with. It can be influenced by factors such as human interaction: kindness and sympathy for one
another, and technology, and its use today. I feel that these are two important elements of social
literacy as they influence how a person is interacting with the world around them both negatively
and positively. If maintained and continuously worked on, I feel my social literacy, as well as
other peoples can continue to grow as it should.

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Works Cited

Johnathan Safran Foer. 2013 Commencement Address at Middlebury College. May

30, 2013
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgGzz3fKINA>
George Saunders. 2013 Commencement Address at Syracuse University

The Associated Press. Is texting ruining the art of conversation? June 4, 2012
<http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/texting-ruining-art-conversation-fearlosing-ability-traditional-face-to-face-conversations-article-1.1089679>