In the world of today, computers are commonly known as a godsend that enhances the learning process by allowing one to complete a task in a short amount of time and maybe even have fun while doing it, but have people taken the learning process for granted by depending on computers too much? Are computers' new teaching methods such as Hypermedia, and multimedia making the learning process too quick by avoiding what really matters in the proper teaching method? The overuse of the computer may be associated with lowering the abilities such as math skills of its users. The author David Gelernter in this article Unplugged: The Myth of computers in the classroom believes so and has several supporting facts to back his beliefs. Gelernter's article succeeds in its attempt to persuade the reader, but also seems indifferent about the topic of weather computers should take a permanent place in the learning process. Altogether this indifference is a flaw that could consequentially cause Gelernter's readers to become confused and unsure of which side to actually lean towards. .
Computers could easily be known as a teacher's best friend, but if abused and overused, technically computers can also be harmful to the learning process overall. The author supports this in his statement, "They have the potential to accomplish great things, but in practice, however, computers make our worst educational enemies" (274). It may seem kind of odd at first to hear this statement and believe it, but its an undeniable truth that computers can and have effected the literacy rate due to over use of multimedia and hypermedia. Multimedia and hypermedia's use of sound pictures and video may have enhanced the learning process by making it more entertaining, but according to the author "by changing a book or document into hypertext is to invite readers to ignore exactly what counts-the story" (274).
