HR Geek: (Product) Strategy for the Rest of Us

The Economist has an interesting column today on literacy in the age of digital media. They do the usual bemoaning of how graphical user interfaces and digital media are to blame for the dumbing down of our culture and reading abilities, but do offer some interesting counterpoints. For example:

Cultural observers bemoan the way electronic media—with their demand for spectacle and brevity—have shortened our attention spans. But as a blogger on Eastgate.com noted recently, that equates brevity with debased taste, and sees patience for long stories as a mark of high culture. But if brevity is to be deplored, what should we make of haiku, sonnets, and ink-brush calligraphy?

On the other side of the coin, lengthy sagas are not the sole prerogative of the literary elite. Pop culture has its share of huge tales—witness the Harry Potter canon. Indeed, for every pared-down presentation pumped out by the electronic media, an engaging narrative can be found.

But I particularly like the following:

[T]he quest for truth has given way to the quest for making sense of the world as experienced. For anyone under the age of 20, the world being experienced is one where the internet has always existed, and where everyone who matters is only a click, speed dial or text message away. “Tomorrow’s adults,” says Mr Federman, “live in a world of ubiquitous connectivity and pervasive proximity.” Their direct experience of the world is wholly different from yours or mine.
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[T]eenagers of today ... are skilled in making sense not of a body of known content, but of contexts that are continually changing.

Teachers must recognise that our pedagogical tools are inconsistent with the skills needed to survive in a world where people are always connected to everyone and everything. In such a world, learning to think for oneself could well be more important than simply learning to read and write.

I couldn't agree more with the assessment of how people's experience of the world is changing. I also place an extremely high value on being able to think for oneself. But I'm not quite ready to give up the ability to read and write; I still view the ability to articulately communicate as a pre-requisite for success. After all, someone has to craft the concise soundbites.