Unit One Project

   

1   Source #1:  Molly Young "A pencil shop, For Texting the Old Fashioned way way." The New York Times (2015) 

  This article discusses the cultural significance a simple pencil can have through the opening of a small store called CW Pencil Enterprise in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. The author, Molly Young, visits the shop and describes it in detail, noting that it sells only pencils (A few notebooks) from places such as Japan, Germany, France, the Czech Republic, and Tennessee. The store is presented as tiny, colorful, and aesthetically pleasing, with a checkered floor and knowledgeable staff who treat pencils as specialized, meaningful tools for all different sorts of things. Through this description, Young highlights how many people still find value in traditional writing tools, even in an era dominated by iPads, laptops, and digital communication.

The store represents a kind of resistance to screen-based culture and suggests that physical writing instruments still hold emotional and creative significance. The atmosphere of the shop emphasizes nostalgia and craftsmanship, which contrasts with the fast pace of modern technology. The audience for this article likely includes New York Times readers who are interested in culture, design, and trends, as well as writers and creatives who may feel overwhelmed by constant screen use.

By portraying the shop as charming and purposeful, Young suggests that there is still a desire for tangible, handwritten experiences in a digital world. Overall, the article contributes to how technology has changed writing practices, while showing that some people continue to value more traditional forms of writing.

2. Source #2  Michelle Faverio and Olivia Sidoti: Pew Research Teens' Social Media Writing

 This article highlights the realities of teens and their screen/social media usage (written by Michelle Faverio and Olivia Sidoti, 2024). The authors cover many different social media apps, such as TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook, and compare the usage of the apps across different demographics.

Overall, YouTube was the most popular among all the demographics of teens being studied, with 73% saying they go on YouTube daily. This includes a 15% margin where these teens say they are on YouTube “almost constantly.” This statistic stands out because YouTube is one of the broadest and oldest platforms being observed. The article goes further into detail when breaking teens down into different demographics. The authors break down social media usage with regard to race, gender, household income, and age.

Interestingly, Facebook was used more by teens from predominantly lower-income households, while Instagram and TikTok seemed to be used more by older teens, and income played less of a factor for those platforms. Overall, the authors’ purpose in writing this article is to present data about how frequently teens use social media. Although social media overuse is often discussed, having real statistics helps readers understand the magnitude of teen engagement across platforms. This supports my topic on writing and technology because to understand how writing is being affected by technology, it is important to first understand how much time teenagers are spending on digital platforms, where most modern communication and writing now occurs.

3 Source #3  Joy Robinson: Teaching with Digital Tools in the Writing and Communications Classroom

This article discusses how teachers and students use technology as part of learning writing and communication skills. It acknowledges that social media and the internet as a whole have greatly impacted society, and explores how educators are working to use those changes to their advantage in the classroom. Interestingly, the author discusses how, for the first time, many educators are young enough to have grown up with internet access throughout their lives. Because of this, they may feel more comfortable incorporating digital tools into their teaching.

However, the article also raises the question of what happens to teachers who did not grow up with the internet or constant access to technology from a young age. In the study discussed, researchers surveyed 328 writing and communication teachers to determine what kinds of digital tools they use, such as learning platforms, apps, and other software. As technology has increasingly been implemented in schools, teachers have often been expected to adapt quickly. Due to the fast-paced advancements in technology, many teachers did not receive proper training and were expected to learn on their own. This led to educators using only the tools they were already familiar with, which may not have been the most effective for student learning. The article suggests that improvements are needed in teacher training, access to shared digital resources, and teacher involvement in decisions about educational technology.

This connects to writing and technology because it shows that digital tools do not just change how students write, but also how writing is taught. Understanding how educators adapt to technology helps explain how modern writing practices continue to evolve in academic settings.

4 Source #4  Zoe Keller - CHATGPT on campus: Assessing its effects on college writing and teaching

   This interview was conducted by Zoe Keller with Alfred Guy, a Yale University writing teacher. In the interview, he discusses the use of AI in academic settings, especially when it comes to writing and student work. His main claim is that ChatGPT will continue to become more advanced over time. Since this article was written in 2023, I chose it because it is interesting to look back at early reactions to AI and what educators predicted would happen.

Guy explains that at the time, he could usually tell what writing was AI-generated and what was not. However, he predicted that in the near future, it would become much more difficult to detect. While AI detection tools still exist, it is clear that ChatGPT has continued to develop and become more sophisticated.

What is particularly interesting about his perspective as a writing professor is that he focuses less on punishment and more on motivation. Guy argues that as ChatGPT improves, the real question becomes how educators can encourage students to genuinely want to learn and complete their own work. He suggests that this comes from teachers understanding their audience and choosing material that feels relevant and beneficial to students’ futures. This source connects to writing and technology because it shows how artificial intelligence is changing the expectations around academic writing. It highlights how technology not only affects how students write but also how professors approach teaching, originality, and learning in a digital age.