A concept in Brian Street’s The New Literacy Studies stuck with me after I finished reading, the subject matter of context; the most impactful section of this concept is displayed in the following few lines: “Within linguistics and its sub-disciplines, ‘context’ has tended to be excluded altogether from consideration” and “even when they have paid attention to ‘social context,’ it has been in terms of a narrow definition” (Street 439). This resonated with me immensely. I feel as if this concept applies greatly in today’s media. In our era of “clickbait” and hyperbolic coverage, society has been severed from true context. As Street says in his piece, “even when they have paid attention to ‘social context’, it has been in terms of narrow definition”; this applies as today’s standards for articles are to be quick, concise and easy to read (Street 439). This essentially means details are left out, and context is limited or not apparent. This trend continues even more as companies are now more focused on enticing headlines more than anything else. People’s attention spans are at an all time low, and will click on an article, read the headline (and the sub-headline if you’re lucky), while skipping the entirety of the article. Society doesn’t have time for context, as the majority are satisfied with a headline, acting as if that’s all you need to retain knowledge on a subject. I believe Street’s concept of context is in full circulation in today’s society heavily, and most likely, it won’t leave for a long time; perhaps it may even worsen.
Works Cited
Street, Brian. “The New Literacy Studies.” Multilingual Literacies Studies in Written Language and Literacy, 2001, doi:10.1075/swll.10.08str.
