Reading for Understanding, Analysis and Evaluation

1. Reading for Understanding, Analysis and Evaluation Screening out the downside to technology

2. Tone Question Possible tones: • Humorous • Conversational/chatty • Persuasive • Dismissive • Ironic • Serious/Formal • Emotive (to make the reader feel a certain emotion.)

3. Tone Question Paragraph 1 (lines 1-4) differs in tone from the rest of the article. Explain what the difference is and show how the writer’s use of language in the first paragraph helps to achieve this. 4 Psst! Are you troubled by technology? When lying alone in the dark do you ever imagine that your iPhone, iPad and laptop are all ganging up on you; that the master/servant relationship has been revered and that you are now at their beck and call? Ok, perhaps that one is just for my and my personal digital terrors, but it’s clear there’s a lot of fretting over what technology has given us. Psst! Are youtroubled by technology? When lying alone in the dark do you ever imagine that your iPhone, iPad and laptop are all ganging up on you; that the master/servant relationship has been revered and that you are now at their beck and call? Ok, perhaps that one is just for my and my personaldigital terrors, but it’s clear there’s a lot of fretting over what technology has given us.

4. Question 1 Answer (4) Quotes with explanation for 2+2 points. • ‘Psst!’ • Use of the question ‘Are you troubled…?’ • ‘ganging’ • ‘do you ever imagine’ • ‘Ok’ • ‘master/servant relationship’ • ‘digital terrors’ • ‘personal’ • ‘Troubled by technology’ (alliteration) • Chatty as if they are speaking to the reader as a friend through use of informal language (or punctuation) • Conversational as they are directly addressing the reader and talking about their own fears. • Humerous as use of informal language makes it appear amusing to the reader. • Emotive as it uses language to create over-the-top scienarios to elicit emotion from the reader. • Lighthearted as the alliteration creates a playful tone.

5. Question 2 ‘it’s clear there’s a lot of fretting over what technology has given us.’ (line 4) By detailed reference to the text, show how the writer’s use of word choice develops this idea in the sentence beginning “the ‘Google effect’” (line 7). 4 ‘The ‘Google effect’ means that now we know where to retrieve information (but then can't remember it once we have found it) and our obsession with electronic and social media is, according to various reports, leading to a rise in narcissistic personality disorder, addiction and depression, while teenagers are using shorter sentences, simple tenses and limited vocabulary. ‘The ‘Google effect’ means that now we know where to retrieve information (but then can't remember it once we have found it) and our obsession with electronic and social media is, according to various reports, leading to a rise in narcissistic personality disorder, addiction and depression, while teenagers are using shortersentences, simple tenses and limited vocabulary.

6. Question 2 Answer (4) Quotes with explanation for 2+2 points. • ‘obsession’ – suggests we have a preoccupation/compulsion/addiction and cannot distance ourselves • ‘narcissistic’ – suggests that technology is making people self-obsessed or self-involved • ‘addiction’ – people are dependent/abusing technology like a drug • ‘depression’ – technology is making people unhappy • ‘shorter’ – writing is more concise suggesting people are not as intelligent • ‘simple’ – not complex or elaborate • ‘limited’ – lacking a variety of knowledge of language

7. Question 3: Link Question Explain how the one-sentence paragraph in lines 12-14 works well as a link at this point in the passage. For too long critics have focused on the negatives associated with social media and our immersion in Twitter and Facebook, yet today writing is actually overtaking speech as the most common form of human communication – which is a genuine paradigm shift. For too long critics have focused on the negatives associated with social media and our immersion in Twitter and Facebook, yet today writing is actually overtaking speech as the most common form of human communication – which is a genuine paradigm shift.

8. Question 3: Link Question Answer (2) 1 point for the link back and 1 for the link forward. ‘Negatives associated with social media’ links back to the previous paragraphs which discusses and gives examples of the undesirable aspects of technology. ‘Yet today’ suggests the change in argument as the writer goes on to examine how writing has changed because of technology.

9. Question 4: Imagery Question Choose one of the following image: ‘…beamed through the electronic prism...’ ‘...have they also become the bricks of our electronic prison?’ ‘...the concertina effect on language...’ Explain what your chosen image means and analyse its effectiveness. (3)

10. Question 4: Imagery Question Answer (3) 1 point for explaining the image and 2 for a detailed analysis of how effective it is. ‘…beamed through the electronic prism...’ • light is flitered through a prism that disperses it. This is effective as it suggestes how the things that we think and do are shared/spread throughout the world through technology and social media. ‘...have they also become the bricks of our electronic prison?’ • the technology in our lives has created a wall around us. It is effective because it suggests how technology imprisons/isolates us from each other and the world we live in. ‘...the concertina effect on language...’ • Creates the image of a concertina (or accordian) being played by pressing the sides and compressing the folds. This suggests that language is being compressed, or simplifed, as how we type on social media starts to influence how we speak.

11. Question 5 Look at lines 40-48. In your own words, explain Professor Greenfield’s main concern and then explain how, and how well, her language conveys the strength of her concern. (5) ‘that if something as innocuous as imagining a piano lesson can bring about a visible physical change in brain structure, what changes might long stints of playing violent computer games bring about?’ ‘Alarmingly hollow’ ‘the screen-based, two-dimensional world that so many teenagers …choose to inhabit is producing changes in behaviour’ ‘It’s almost as if something hasn’t really happened until it has been posted...’

12. Question 5 Answer (5) Maximum of 3 points explaining concern. 1 point for language and 1 for explanation. Concerns: • Computer games might effect a person’s ideas about aggression/violence. • Spending large amounts of time online alters how people act. • Social media is how information is spread or sharing on social media makes an event a reality. Language: • Image ‘alarmingly hollow’ – no substance to this claim. • ‘imagining’ – italics places emphasis on how just thinking about something can make impacts on the brain (so what about violence?) • Use of questions – forces reader to think. • Colon introducing the list – demonstrates the lengthy effects that use of technology has, • Parenthesis – emphasises that it is not just children. • ‘screen-shaped eyes’ – image forces us to image someone who has spent so much time with a screen they have started to look like one. • ‘games-driven generation’ – shows how deeply influence these teenagers are by video games.

13. Question 6 Using your own words as far as possible, explain fully what the ‘irony’ is (line 55). 4 The irony is that, ‘digital natives’ – children born into this new age – are enjoying the benefits: the iPad is far from passive, as the touch technology is as understandable to a very young child as building a brick tower; babies and toddlers can learn more from iPads than from the books they cannot yet read; tapping the screen and being corrected immediately can be instructive and allows them to take in information accurately. The irony is that, ‘digital natives’ – children born into this new age – are enjoying the benefits: the iPad is far from passive, as the touch technology is as understandable to a very young child as building a brick tower; babies and toddlers can learn more from iPads than from the books they cannot yet read; tapping the screen and being corrected immediately can be instructive and allows them to take in information accurately.

14. Question 6 Answer (4) 1 point each for any of the following (no points if own words are not used): • Although studies suggested that technology was bad for the development of young children, it might actually be useful. • Tablets encourage interaction. • Touch screens are easy for children to use. • Very young children who cannot read can respond to what is on the screen. • Screens offers instant corrections to mistakes.

15. Question 7 Look at the final paragraph (lines 64-69). Identify the writer’s attitude to the ‘wonders of the digital world’ and give evidence to support your answer. 2 The wonders of the digital world will only increase and, if the development of civilisation has taught us anything, it is that all things new are treated at first with suspicion and fear. Comic books in the 1950s were considered a corrupting influence on the youth of the day, just as computer games are today. So we should turn to the Greeks (who did so love a new gadget- water clock, gear, screw, etc.) and remember the words of Aristotle: ‘moderation in all things’. The wonders of the digital world will only increase and, if the development of civilisation has taught us anything, it is that all things new are treated at first with suspicion and fear. Comic books in the 1950s were considered a corrupting influence on the youth of the day, just as computer games are today. So we should turn to the Greeks (who did so love a new gadget- water clock, gear, screw, etc.) and remember the words of Aristotle: ‘moderation in all things’.

16. Question 7 Answer (2) 1 point for attitude. 1 point for explanation that references the text (quote or summary) Attitude: • Cautious, but accepting of the possibilities that technology could bring. Reference: • ‘Wonders’ – positive, suggests great things to come. • Reference to the comic books – something we see as harmless now. • ‘water clock, gear, screw’ – all useful things, just as technology could be. • ‘moderation in all things’ – as long as we use it sensibly it could be an asset in our lives.

17. Question 8: Summary Question Consider the passage as a whole and then, usingyour own words as far as possible, summarise the key points the writer makes about the benefits and disadvantages of technology. 6

18. Question 8 Answer (6) 1 point for each disadvantage and advantage (no points if own words are not used): Advantages: • Easy for young children to engage with. • Writing is becoming the most used form of interaction. Disadvantages: • Technology has negatively affected face to face interaction. • Violent video games are suggestive. • People rely too heavily on social media to tell others about the events of their lives. • People find it harder to pay attention. • Language is being simplified and generally less complex. • People are becoming more self-obsessed.