19 Final Thoughts

We live in a digital world. Many of us wake up in the morning to an alarm we set on our smartphone, and from that moment on, so many of our daily activities revolve around technology: the weather and news updates that we get from Alexa, the podcast or Pandora station we listen to on our way to work, the text messages and emails that we respond to throughout the day, the social media posts that we read on our breaks, the projects we complete on our computers, the meetings we have on Zoom, the Netflix shows we watch as we unwind before bed. It would be an interesting, if not slightly disturbing, experiment to document how much digital media you consume each day—how much time you spend, which platforms you use, and what types of activities you do. More disturbing yet, consider how difficult it would be to navigate your daily life without digital media. What would your day look like if you didn’t have a smartphone or a laptop or continual access to the internet?

While this textbook has demonstrated the ubiquitous nature of digital technology in various ways and the significant opportunities that come with the ability to easily access and share information, there are significant and complex skills that come with effective digital writing, and unfortunately, the important nuances are often overlooked. In fact, for many of us, composing text messages, emails, social media posts, and even blog articles has become such a common practice in our everyday lives that we often fail to recognize the larger rhetorical, social, and cultural implications of our writing. That’s not to say that every text message you write has profound consequences. However, more often than not, the deeper purpose goes beyond sharing a funny GIF or letting a friend know you’re running late. When you think about the underlying goals of each message (whether composed using digital media or not), some of your writing strategies and anticipated audience reactions come into focus, helping you make effective choices. What’s unique about digital media is its immediacy, its constant presence in our lives, and the range of communication strategies that are at our disposal. It’s also much harder to control the spread of digital information once it’s been published. All of these aspects of digital writing demand a higher level of intentionality, critical thinking, and social awareness, which is why so much of this textbook focuses on the critical and rhetorical perspective of digital writing (the “why” and “to what effect”) in addition to the functional perspective (the “how to”).

As digital technologies continue to evolve, the “how to” will probably change. New features and entirely new platforms will inevitably take the place of older versions, and there will be a learning curve with each one. Chances are that you’ll also encounter new, specialized technologies as you advance in a particular field, and it may take time for you to learn how to navigate each one with confidence. What won’t change are the underlying principles of critical and rhetorical literacy that can be applied in each new circumstance and help guide the choices you make. The hope is that the tools you learned in this textbook will be relevant again and again as you participate in digital spaces, both now and in the future.

In this final chapter of the book, we’ll briefly explore the significant benefits that coincide with digital literacy. You might recall that in the first chapter of the book, we debunked the idea of the digital panacea, opting instead to understand both the affordances and constraints of various tools as well as the negative social, emotional, and cognitive effects that are often overlooked or dismissed. While those negative effects are legitimate and should be an important consideration as you think critically about the digital technologies you use and set appropriate boundaries, being intentional to monitor and evaluate your practices will not only enhance your writing but have significant personal benefits that extend far beyond a single text or digital platform:

• Enhanced communication. Of course, nothing can replace in-person conversation, where you can attend more fully to things like inflection, tone, and body language. However, digital technology has vastly expanded how and with whom you can communicate. Email, text messaging, social media, and web platforms make it possible for you to quickly and easily communicate information with a large number of people and to communicate at your convenience throughout your day. Also, while in-person communication might be more personal and flow more naturally, there are some important advantages of digital communication. For instance, messages that are more informational or detail-oriented can be organized around bullet points or numbered lists so readers can easily follow along and refer back to the message as needed. It’s easier to incorporate pictures, tables, and charts that enhance the message. There’s also more time to process the information you receive and formulate an appropriate response.
• Forged connections. Think of all the relationships that wouldn’t exist or that would be much more difficult to maintain without digital media. Some relationships function exclusively online. Facebook groups, online support groups, and video game clans are just a few examples of online communities that can provide meaningful interactions among group members, perhaps from different states or even continents, allowing them to develop relationships and nurture certain aspects of their identity. Other groups might communicate online as a supplement to in-person activities, providing a consistent and convenient way to connect in between meetings. Even one-on-one relationships between spouses, parents and children, friends, coworkers, and so on can easily connect through digital media when an in-person conversation or even a phone call isn’t feasible.
• Personal growth. If nurtured in the right way, your online engagement with diverse groups of people, with an endless body of information, with various perspectives and forms of expression can go a long way to develop your own worldview, expanding not only your basic knowledge of concepts and events but of other people and experiences far different from your own. To thoughtfully engage with these ideas cultivates more self-awareness and more understanding and empathy for others.
• Professional advancement. The last unit of this textbook focused on the professional opportunities that exist within digital media—as analysts, SEO experts, content strategists, web designers, social media coordinators, and more. Employers consistently advocate for workers who can communicate effectively on a number of platforms, and chances are that whatever professional field you enter, it will require at least some form of digital writing. However, as more organizations seek to have an omnichannel presence and to make genuine connections with their target market, the ability to craft effective messaging across a variety of platforms will significantly increase your value at work and create more advancement opportunities.
• Civic engagement. Last but not least, digital technology can have a positive impact on your civic engagement, not only because it’s easier and quicker to stay apprised of the latest national and local news, but also because digital platforms provide the opportunity to spark (hopefully) constructive dialogue, rally support around key issues, organize events, and prompt action. As discussed earlier in the text, it’s not uncommon for digital spaces to become “toxic” with personal agendas and rhetoric of divisiveness, but opportunities can and do exist to identify tangible needs and to use digital tools to inform, to unite, and to affect positive change.

The common thread among the benefits listed above is intentionality—being intentional to engage in meaningful, fulfilling, and positive digital writing activities, setting healthy boundaries, and being able to identify and avoid digital spaces and activities that are harmful or destructive. True digital literacy means being able to self-monitor and self-regulate. It’s a habit of mind that promotes curiosity, critical thinking, and continual reflection, all of which create a feedback loop to inform your decisions about which technologies to engage with and how you will engage with the people you encounter. As the digital realm continues to expand, we are in desperate need of writers who are intentional and thoughtful about the messages they share and the way their words will affect different audiences on the other side of the screen.