Wow! I am actually posting a blog for my first reading of Walter J. Ong's article Writing is Atechnology that Restructures Thought (not having realized what the date was and that I was still one behind for the blogging assignment but having had the in class discussion prior to reading really made me aware of what I was reading for; thus, making the article more insightful. The knowledge I gained from the class discussion allowed me to make better sense of the first section than I would have alone. Ong uses words and phrases such as "imperious [and] tend[ing] to arrogate to itself supreme power by taking itself as normative for human expression and thought" to describe literacy (Ong, 19). His use of these words is to say that overall literacy is powerful and should be viewed as more than a "mechanical skill" but the context of writing should be understood.
Furthermore I took great interest in the article when he spoke of Plato's theories of why writing is "an intrusion" (Ong 21). I actually agreed with Plato in his idea that "writing destroys memory"(Ong 21). I can directly relate to this when it comes to my skills in math. Throughout elementary and middle school I was on the advanced track in mathematics and we were never allowed to use calculators; thus, I was very sharp with my mental math (addition, subtraction etc). But slowly as I progressed through school, although I remained in upper level math classes, the usage of calculators was much more heavily implemented. I then began utilizing my mental math much less than before which made me become rusty on even the simplest equations (even now need a calculator to multiply by 11 and 12 which I never needed).
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When I first read Ong and blogged on it, I thought it was a ridiculous statement that writing destroys memories. How could writing destroy memory when it helps you remember things? I still don't believe that it destroys your memory, but I do believe that it lets you remember less with just your mind and your mind alone. You give a great example when comparing writing and using less of your memory to the use of calculators being able to do math in your head. So I've come to the conclusion that writing is a tool to HELP you remember.
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