By Flor de María Vila A.
Nowadays, it has become exceedingly
common to interact with different digital networks and platforms. In fact,
interacting with this new second world is a must for everyone who wants to keep
updated with the latest news, methods, games, tips, gossips, offers, secrets,
advice, or the very thoughts they may need in a special circumstance.
The obvious advantage of
interacting with the virtual world is, for instance, the information that one
can collect by typing a word or phrase in the Google search engine. In countless
cases, the only thing that matters is to have access to the information that
may help us do an assignment, to learn something new or to just have some
relaxing time.
Are there any further benefits in addition to
finding the satisfaction to the specific need of obtaining information?
The most sophisticated yield could be that of improving your critical and analytical thinking through the use of different reading strategies such as previewing, contextualizing, reflecting, evaluating and comparing, among others. Supplementary benefits could be those related to competences that will empower your cognitive skills; something that will be useful not only in your academic domain, but also in your everyday life. It is highly probable that you will notice your memory swelling, your attention enhancing, your vocabulary expanding, your stress reducing, and your writing and entertaining talents improving. All those are good reasons to start interacting with the digital world. All these benefits are related to the old adage “use it or lose it.” You cannot expect to remember anything you have just glimpsed, can you? You will most likely remember something you have put to use somehow. Thus, giving your brain the chance to think over a topic, question, or comment to provide a response is the minimal “exercise” that your brain needs in order to be kept in shape.
It is said that
nothing belongs to you until you use it. When writing, you use a number of
cognitive skills that will enable you to pass some information from your
short-term memory storage to the long-term memory storage because somehow your
brain rehearses the information used.
Using the
information you read to create new one will absolutely contribute to your
cognitive empowerment. Furthermore, it is always
rewarding to contribute with our small bit to the enrichment of education in
our country, is it not?
What about sharing your ideas about the following:
What have you read about interacting with the
digital world?
Are there any other benefits?
What do your colleagues say about interacting with
“the cybernetic world”?
BIODATA
M.A. in
Cognition, Learning and Development from PUCP, B.A. in Education with a
major in English Teaching. Ms. Vila is currently Pedagogic Advisor and Member
of the Research Team at Centro de Idiomas de la Universidad del Pacífico and
Academic Director of International Contacts (test training & foreign
applications advisory). She is official Examiner for several University of
Cambridge tests, freelance consultant with Universidad ESAN, experienced
speaker on diverse English teaching issues for prestigious institutions, and
senior international examinations trainer (GMAT, GRE, TOEFL, IELTS).
