The part of me lost to Digital Age

Digital age has without doubt, enhanced and triggered enormous global development which is irreversible. It has touched every aspect of our lives; literally. And one cannot overstate its impact in our educational system.
Few months ago, if you ask me in what way has digitisation best affect me, I will instantly reply: “Learning”. Digitisation has made learning easier, more accessible and affordable. Not until one morning when my dad was in need of a printed dictionary and what a shame, I couldn’t provide any. I searched through my books archive but couldn’t find even a torn page of a dictionary. I then thought; where is my varieties of dictionary? How did I not notice the disappearance? Why haven’t I checked on it for so long? The mobile dictionary application I now have, automatically answers the questions. The mobile dictionary have completely replaced them without me even noticing. I can’t explain what happened or how it happened but I know a revolution has taken place. That morning, I realised the actual impact of digitisation on my intellect.
Dictionary; paper dictionary actually, used to be one of my most precious possessions. I used to have the MacMillan dictionary, Longman dictionary (which I love most because of its colourful graphics and images), the Oxford dictionary which I always upgrade to its latest version and a pocket sized dictionary.
The mobile dictionary is of course cheaper and more portable but in real sense, it is only portable in a less useful kind of way. It is portable because my phone is with me all the time but I seldom use it. The only time I use the mobile dictionary is when I come across an unfamiliar word. I don’t even look up to the phonetics because most mobile dictionaries come with an audio button you can tap and listen to the pronunciation. The opposite is the case in my experience with the print dictionary.
I used the print dictionary to build my vocabulary. I would make a free time where I self-learn a new word every time. I would learn a word’s meaning, its thesaurus, phonetics, etymology and how to actually apply it. And whenever I come across that word in a text, I had this feeling of excitement, satisfaction and achievement. I no longer do that with the mobile dictionary.
Another thing I love about the print dictionary is the graphical aspect of it. The illustrations, diagrams, images, photos; help you to understand more. World atlas, maps and general knowledge can also be found in some dictionaries. None of the mobile dictionaries I have features these.
On the other hand, print dictionaries have been a source of fun. My friends and I would play word games like ‘spelling bee’ ‘which word’ ‘word scrabble’ and many others, which are said to be good for brain enhancement. According to a research carried out by physician Peter Sargious of Calgary University, brain-training games help in improving the flexibility of the brain and that it can cause alternative parts of a person’s brain to concievably be leveraged.
Mobile dictionaries are great inventions but it can’t compare to the advantages of a print dictionary. It has indeed inflicted a lazy attitude towards learning in me. The major setback of digitisation I discovered

Fatima Spawa,
Department of Mass Communication, BUK

 

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