september pundit 4
Jennifer Senior
"The High School We Can't Log Off From"
The New York Times
August 4, 2018
In this opinion article, Jennifer Senior discusses how Twitter devolves its users' mindsets into those of teenagers. She quotes an expert psychoanalyst, increasing her authority, about how teenagers care so much about what others think, and Twitter is causing adults to fall back into this way of thinking. Since once one posts a tweet or picture they get immediate feedback in the form of likes, comments, or retweets, it reinforces the adolescent idea that everyone is watching and judging them. Senior ties this point back to our president, musing that his social media of choice is the one most closely related to adolescent thinking. I believe this connection weakens her argument a little. If she wanted to write an article about Trump's behavior on Twitter, maybe she should've done so instead of randomly including it in an article that she doesn't even center around Trump. She also gives no evidence to her misplaced idea. This tidbit also messes up the flow of ideas and reveals her bias, unfortunately weakening the credibility she established by bringing in quotes from experts.
"The High School We Can't Log Off From"
The New York Times
August 4, 2018
In this opinion article, Jennifer Senior discusses how Twitter devolves its users' mindsets into those of teenagers. She quotes an expert psychoanalyst, increasing her authority, about how teenagers care so much about what others think, and Twitter is causing adults to fall back into this way of thinking. Since once one posts a tweet or picture they get immediate feedback in the form of likes, comments, or retweets, it reinforces the adolescent idea that everyone is watching and judging them. Senior ties this point back to our president, musing that his social media of choice is the one most closely related to adolescent thinking. I believe this connection weakens her argument a little. If she wanted to write an article about Trump's behavior on Twitter, maybe she should've done so instead of randomly including it in an article that she doesn't even center around Trump. She also gives no evidence to her misplaced idea. This tidbit also messes up the flow of ideas and reveals her bias, unfortunately weakening the credibility she established by bringing in quotes from experts.
Ms. Senior,
ReplyDeleteYou use ethos very well throughout this piece by frequently citing experts. I find the subject of psychology very interesting, especially when tied to every-day scenarios like posting a tweet. However, I'm slightly confused on your main subject matter here- is it Twitter or Trump? While I understand that those two intersect often, this article seemed to be more focused on Twitter with a few random Trump references.
I agree with Senior that Twitter evokes adolescent behavior because of the many similarities between the two, like observational behavior and being close to many people you don't know. However, I noticed her excessive use of negative, evil imagery in the second paragraph. I feel like she intended for this to be a hook, but it appeals to pathos to the point that some of the images are too ridiculous for me to consider, so I feel like this is not very effective. It almost makes we want to stop reading the rest of this informative article.
ReplyDeleteAs someone who doesn't have any social media, I'm sort of an outsider to this topic, though of course I'm still continuously surrounded and affected by it. I can see where Senior's argument is coming from and she does a nice job using smaller arguments to support a major claim, as well as seeing the good side of Twitter. But I agree that this claim is muddied by her mentions of President Trump. If she wants to argue that Trump's administrative is more childish with his constant use of Twitter, I think there are better ways to say this.
ReplyDeleteI think this is an interesting topic, one I want to look into when I have a free moment. I feel as though the connection to Trump's social media behavior is worth discussing. I agree with you that this is not the article to do so in. That is its own discussion that should be done in its own article.
ReplyDeleteI really like this article, and can relate to it partially as I am an active user of social media. Yes, there are good and bad sides of social media, and in this case, it is Twitter, but when it is used poorly, as Trump used it, social media can be harmful. I didn't like the tone used; it was constantly negative, therefore unappealing.
ReplyDelete