Computer Literacy

The computer technology became a very important aspect in human lives that is greatly relied upon. Nowadays personal computers are made quite affordable and allow for easy and fast way to access information and solve problems in daily life. Life is a continuous information interchange and technological progress helps accelerate this exchange. However, people are so dependable on computers that they do not realize the impact it has on literacy. Computer literacy is essential in our modern society but with great advantages of this skill come disadvantages that can have a negative impact on the three basic skills such as reading, writing and arithmetic. Reading is a skill that is taught from a very young age that makes people more intellectual and formed in an everyday life. Technology made access to information very simple which is why many people turn to computers for news, books and others sources of information. A trip to a library or a newspaper shop is a thing of the past since everything is available at your fingertips in the comfort of your own home. However reading from a computer screen can be much slower and inefficient. In the following quote,“These differences in reading speed are assumed to be due to a declined sense of orientation when reading long lines of online text presented in single wide columns” it is evident that reading from a computer screen can affect the reading speed when comparing to reading from the book. A person can easily lose track of where they are when reading from a screen and as a result this can affect comprehension of the text. This is evident in the “Failure to Connect” by Jane Healy, “Reading from the screen is slower, more fatiguing, less accurate, and more subject to information overload than standard reading. In several studies, students tested for comprehension after reading from a screen demonstrated less understanding and poorer memory than those getting the same information from a book. They tended to get lost or