There is more to literacy than its definition of being able to read and write. Literacy in itself is the ability to understand and comprehend what’s being taken in. In the verbal or conversation viewpoint on literacy, it is the difference between knowing what has been said, and just hearing words with no meaning. There are also other forms of literacy, with everyone having a special interest or certain topic they are more interested in than others. The first that comes to mind is literacy in technology. Over the past two decades now, technology has been improving each and every year. Every new generation is growing up in a world of technology, leaving older generations with their more traditional knowledge. Because of this we see a gap in how literate some people are based on how well they can navigate through a computer or smartphone. Another example we commonly see is the language barrier. Some people may not be able to read and write in one language let alone two, and at the same time we have people who have mastered multiple languages. Being literate is so important because it is one of the main factors in successful communication. Someone may be able to read a word or two, but do they understand the full extent of the content? According to the definition of literacy I am literate in Spanish because I can read and write some words but there is still a level of understanding that needs to be met.
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