Gin, Television, and Cognitive Surplus

In this article, Shirky's main point is that we should do something productive with our free time versus watching television and wasting the time away not thinking.  He tries to argue that we waste so much time doing things that are not making a difference in the world when we should be trying to use our free time to its fullest advantage.  In this article I found more than one definition of literacy.  Illiteracy can be defined as the ignorance of people to the time that they waste watching countless hours of television and spending an unlimited amount of time on the computer.  But also, literacy can be defined as someone's ability to understand information and not go any deeper into its meaning.  Also, throughout the article he brings forth facts about the millions, billions, and trillion hours people spend watching television, playing on the computer, or doing nothing.  He may keep reiterating this as to point out to the reader that this time can be better used in making a difference in the world, like the millions of hours spent creating Wikipedia articles that help to further people's knowledge.