Paper 3 (Final Draft)

Paper#3 (Final Draft)

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to discover whether social media (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, etc.) have a negative impact on user’s health via emotional, mental or physical harm. In order to find an answer, I used a combination of secondary sources, and a primary research study that consisted of one article from the Atlantic and a questionnaire consisting of five questions. The questions were made to emulate the type of questions used by the journals so that I could compare my results to a larger scale paper. The results of the study confirmed what scholarly articles were saying and reinforced the overall question of whether social media carries potential harms to its users in the form of emotional, physical and psychological distress. Because of the massive number of users (over 1 billion on Facebook alone), it can be assumed that the statistics I gathered provide a shocking number of negatives if scaled to larger populations.

Introduction

The claim that disconnecting oneself from social media leads to an increase in happiness and an overall decreasing of stress is not a foreign one. But why would such a claim arise and manage to enter the public arena? If the rhetoric in the claim was inherently incorrect, it would be easily regarded as fictitious. However, the claim that quitting social media, such as Facebook garnered enough attention to have articles written by reputable publications like Business Insider, for example. The question is “why?” With that question in mind, I decided to find out if there are mental or physical health risks involved from using the social media platform such as Facebook.

Background

 In my analysis of sources relating to this paper, I have seen much to indicate that online stimuli and interaction can and does have negative impacts on the self. If what I’m suggesting was not true, then it would have been unnecessary to enact legislation nationwide to make the act of cyberbullying illegal. Along with the effects of personal attacks, which come from negative interactions, or no interactions, loneliness are also attacks and harmful to the self. For these reasons, social media can and in many cases, does affect mental, physical and emotional stability and does present a threat, if not used properly and safely.

Social media is not confined to Facebook. In fact, there are many online outlets that provide these kinds of services, such as Snapchat and Instagram. The consequences of social media that I cover exist in the same sphere as these other social platforms. Therefore, there exists the possibility that ill effects will reach you despite the platform difference. Because of this information, it is important and relevant to the billion plus users of social media platforms.

 Literature Review

  In the article, “Is Facebook Making Us Lonely?” written by Stephen Marche, this author argues that despite the increasing number of ways to connect to each other, the value of these interactions has not only become numerous, but also inherently less valuable, and thus people are more detached and/ or lonelier. This follows the theme touched upon in the introduction and background and begins to provide context to what I refer to as the consequences behind social media use. The consequences are personified when the author referenced Yvette Vickers who reached out to fans for companionship when she had no social circle, church or children. This implied loneliness is driven home by the fact that no one knew when she died, as she was mummified when found and was only visible due to the glow of a still powered computer screen. She personifies the fears that many people have and while she serves as an example, statistics are provided that show that she is not the only person who is subject to those conditions. Building on themes of loneliness and familiar social bond neglect, the article written by Anne Oeldorf-Hirsch “Your post is embarrassing me: Face threats, identity, and the audience on Facebook” dives into the deeper consequences and how individuals may come to make them. The journal covers how embarrassment, identity and the knowledge that an audience exists and can possibly see your posted content effects what is posted in relation to how one views their self-identity and how they cope with potential embarrassment. The argument is that there are links between posted content and how they think said info will shape their online “Self-identity”. While most of the information shows that even if embarrassed the majority would laugh it off some would delete it. The information showed that the closer the posted info was to fitting their personality the less likely they were to delete it. The article covers Facebook as the source of its info and collected that info through surveys much like my research.

Research Methods

 In obtaining my information I provided an online survey in which the participants were asked five questions. The site from which I conducted the survey was Reddit, a large website organized by individual topics (any and all topics exist. ex. r/tv, r/books, r/history etc.) with a large and diverse community. The survey existed for several days, so that I could get the amount of response’s I deemed acceptable which plateaued at 20 participants. I stressed the survey takers information would be confidential and stressed that because of that fact to be truthful in their responses. As I guaranteed anonymity, I do not have exact ages but I provided information to showcase that the clear majority of users are within the age group of 18-49 around 90%. 

The questions are as follows:

1.      How often do you use social media? (Facebook,Twitter,Instagram,Snapchat,etc.)

Daily- 12 Weekly- 4 Monthly- 2 Not at all- 2 

2.      Have you ever been embarrassed by content posted by yourself or others on said social media sites? Y/N 12/8

                                                      

3.      Do you or have you ever considered the use of these social media platforms as stressful? Y/N 8/12

4.      Have you ever considered the deletion of your account for these social media platforms? Y/N 4/16

5.      Have you deleted any social media account(s)? Y/N 2/18

Research Findings

From the information gathered, I discovered that between users who use social media daily and those who use it weekly make up 80%. There were 60% that admitted to being embarrassed by a post they at one time created and then subsequently deleted it. While 40% say that they have regarded the use of social media as stressful and only 20% say they have seriously considered the deleting of their social media profiles. Subsequently, only 2 of the participants have deleted a social media profile, this same percentage were the only ones to submit “never” in the “average usage of social media” question.

Conclusions

Based on the information gathered, while it’s not a statically large number of people participating, if we were to apply the “40% of people have regarded social media as stressful” statistic to the population of Facebook monthly users which is 1.6 billion the “Stressed group” would number at 640,000,000. It can be assumed that social media platforms and the embarrassment they cause will lead to many receiving stress and some proceeding to delete their account. Since stress is involved, it’s safe to say that social media does in fact cause emotional and if continued physical strain. Coupled with the embarrassment and potential bullying from these effects the sources of harm enter the physical, emotional and even psychological categories. “And even among those who haven’t quit Facebook, a large number say they’ve considered it. Nearly half (46.8 percent) of the current Facebook users surveyed said they’d previously considered quitting the site. A full 61 percent of members say they’ve taken extended breaks from Facebook, lasting several weeks or more, according to a report from the Pew Research Center published this year.” This quote is taken from the article by Bianca Bosker goes to reinforce my own research and goes to show that despite the limited scope of my own research larger institutions could take up the mantle because the ideas remain valid. The future of research should view just how many are quitting Facebook and why they were driven to do so. With that final piece, it would be so much easier to prove that social media has harmful effects. But as of now, I am very limited to the amount of work I can conduct due to me being alone in my gathering as exampled by my small sample size. However, future research should be done to further prove there is harm and then devise ways to prevent it.

Works Cited

STEPHEN, MARCHE. “Is Facebook Making Us Lonely?” theatlantic, May 2012,

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/05/is-facebook-making-us-lonely/308930/, Accessed 18 April 2017.

Anne Oeldorf-Hirsch., et al. “Your post is embarrassing me: Face threats, identity, and the audience on Facebook.” Computers in Human Behavior, vol.73, 2017, pp. 92-99, www.elsevier.com/locate/comphumbeh. Accessed 18 April 2017.

Oduaran, Choja. “Psychological Violence and the bane of Cyber-Harassment against Women: An Experiential Inquest on Facebook.” Gender & Behavior, 2016, vol. 14, no. 3, pp. 7589-7608, Accessed 15 April 2017.

 Bianca, Bosker. “These Are The People Who Are Quitting Facebook.” Huffington Post, 20 Aug. 2013,

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/20/quitting-facebook_n_3962473.html, Accessed 5 May 2017.

Paper #3: Self Narrative Rhetorical Inquiry (Draft 2)

Abstract
So, my first step was to try to find information in line with my question, whether it is supportive or contradictory isn’t important, the fact that there is discussion on the issue is a good sign. There are many articles associated with the rise of social media and its effects on intrapersonal relationships, the range in which this info can be found is as broad as reputable news websites to scholarly academic articles. To supplement the info used from other sources a survey of my own was conducted to gauge social media involvement and to see if stress and embarrassment elements from social media existed in my study as well. The results of the study confirmed what scholarly articles were saying and reinforced the overall question of whether social media carries potential harms to its users in the form of emotional, physical and psychological distress.

Introduction

The claim that disconnecting oneself from social media leads to an increase in happiness and an overall decreasing of stress is not a foreign one. But why would such a claim arise and manage to enter the public arena? If the rhetoric in the claim was inherently incorrect it would be easily regarded as fictitious. However, the claim that quitting social media, Facebook garnered enough attention to have articles written by reputable publications such as Business Insider, for example. But why? With that question in mind I decided to find out if there are mental or physical health risks involved from using the social media platform Facebook

Background

 In my analysis of sources relating to this paper I have seen mush to indicate that online stimuli and interaction can and do have negative impacts on the self. If what I’m suggesting was not true, then it would have been unnecessary to enact legislation nationwide to make the act of cyberbullying illegal. Along with the effects of personal attacks which come from negative interactions, no interactions and loneliness are also valid attacks and harmful to the self. For these reasons, I believe that social media can and in many cases effect mental, physical and emotional stability and present a threat if not used properly and safely.

Social media is not confined to Facebook, in fact there are many online outlets that provide these kinds of services for example Snapchat and Instagram. The consequences of social media that I cover exist in the same sphere as these other social platforms. Therefore, there exists the possibility that ill effects will reach you despite the platform difference. Because of that this information is important and relevant to the billion plus users of social media platforms.

Literature Review

 In the article “Is Facebook Making Us Lonely?” written by Stephen Marche his argument is that despite the increasing number of ways to connect to each other the value of these interactions has become numerous but inherently less valuable and thus people are more detached and or lonelier. This follows the theme touched upon in the intro and background and begin to provide context to what I refer to as the consequences behind social media use. The consequences are personified when the author referenced Yvette Vickers who reached out to fans for companionship when she had no social circle church or children this implied loneliness is driven home by the fact that no one knew when she died as she was mummified when found and was only visible due to the glow of a still powered computer screen. She personifies the fears that many people have and while she serves as an example statistics are provided that try to measure how many people are lonely and do a good job of it and are from reliable sources such as AARP and scholars.

Along with this the article “Your post is embarrassing me: Face threats, identity, and the audience on Facebook” written by Anne Oeldorf-Hirsch., et al provides the research and statistics that only a scholarly article can provide. The journal covers how embarrassment, identity and the knowledge that an audience exists and can possibly see your posted content effects what is posted in relation to how one views their self-identity and how they cope with potential embarrassment. The argument is that there are links between posted content and how they think said info will shape their online “Self-identity”. While most of the info shows that even if embarrassed the majority would laugh it off some would delete it. The information showed that the closer the posted info was to fitting their personality the less likely they were to delete it. The article covers Facebook as the source of its info and collected that info through surveys much like my research.

Research Methods

In obtaining my information I provided an online survey in which the participants were asked 5 questions. The survey existed for several days so that I could get the amount of response’s I deemed acceptable which was 20. I stressed the survey takers information would be confidential and stressed that because of that fact to be truthful in their response’s.

Research Findings

From the info gathered we discovered that between users who use social media daily and those who use it weekly make up 80%. 60% admitted to being embarrassed by a post they at one time created and then subsequently deleted it. 40% say that they have regarded the use of social media as stressful and only 20% say they have seriously considered the deleting of social media. Subsequently only 2 of the participants have deleted a social media profile, this same percentage were the only ones to submit never in the “average usage of social media” question. (Graphs to come soon)

Conclusions

Based on the info gathered while it’s not a statically large number of people participating if we were to apply the “40% of people have regarded social media as stressful” statistic to real world populations then the population that would be effected would be in the hundreds of millions. And when you are dealing with a large population then many variables some to mind such as individual stress management. It can be assumed that social media platforms and the embarrassment they cause will lead to many receiving stress and some even quitting. Since stress is involved it’s safe to say that social media does in fact cause emotional harm. Coupled with the embarrassment and potential bullying from these effects the sources of harm enter the physical, emotional and even psychological categories.

Paper #3 (First draft)

Paper #3: Self Narrative Rhetorical Inquiry

            The claim that disconnecting oneself from social media leads to an increase in happiness and an overall decreasing of stress is not a foreign one. But why would such a claim arise and manage to enter the public arena? If the rhetoric in the claim was inherently incorrect it would be easily regarded as fictitious. However, the claim that quitting social media, Facebook garnered enough attention to have articles written by reputable publications such as Business Insider, for example. But why? With that question in mind I decided to find out if there are mental or physical health risks involved from using the social media platform Facebook.

So, my first step was to try to find information in line with my question, whether it is supportive or contradictory isn’t important, the fact that there is discussion on the issue is a good sign. There are many articles associated with the rise of social media and its effects on intrapersonal relationships, the range in which this info can be found is as broad as reputable news websites to scholarly academic articles. To begin I started my research with an article from theatlantic.com titled “Is Facebook Making Us Lonely?” written by Stephen Marche. The article features an example in the very first paragraph that can be used as evidence to perhaps show or imply the effects of the social media age. The effect being that despite the world being connected to each other the depth of these relationships is shallower than that of offline relationships. If this is to be believed, then a reliance on social media as a source of companionship is not realistic and cannot be a substitute for “Real relationships”. The quotations on real relationships are meant to bring to light another point that the article conveys, that face to face interactions hold more value than online.  How could this information be relevant to my main line of questioning? Well if by discontinuing the maintenance of an online persona, that effort is then shifted into peer to peer interactions and a greater sense of worth is obtained and therefore happiness then that would explain partially the sense “relief” and “happiness” that seems to be reported thereafter. This line of thinking can be directly applied and confirmed by the example the Atlantic provides. Yvette Vickers a woman in her 80’s was found dead in her home with the computer still on. She did use social media, and it was discovered that she in her final years did not turn outward to peer to peer interactions but instead to social media and talked to “distant fans”. By choosing distant relationships over familial for example, did she isolate herself and cause an early death? I believe she did and the fact she was not discovered until the better part of a year passed is telling.

            Loneliness isn’t the only factor effecting health, it is still possible despite being connected and having a fulfilling social life to be afflicted by health issues. The online self is distinct and crafted. Usually meant to showcase the best aspects of one’s self and obscure the negative. It because of this that an attack or loss of face to this glorification of self can be stressful or traumatic. In Anne Oeldorf-Hirsch’s “Your post is embarrassing me: Face threats, identity, and the audience on Facebook” elements of this online persona are discussed along with how embarrassment plays a role. As we all know cyber-bullying can lead to real-world repercussions.  Sometimes the bullying can lead to death of the target but why? Because it’s not as simple as some say, it’s not so simple that you can “Just turn it off”. Anne’s paper makes it a point to show that the online attacks to self-presentation do have a “significant impact on one’s identity”. Aside from bullying there exist “face-threatening” attacks which equate to an attack on the character they show on social media. What’s interesting is that according to their research there are many people who make posts they regret and believe that they revealed too much info or created a narrative that doesn’t reflect on the idealized version of self. This understandably would lead to a stressful online atmosphere until the situation and damage control can be implemented whether by editing or outright deleting. Obviously, a post that contains embarrassing info will lead to stressful situation but the possibility for containment is still present. What about when the embarrassment comes from friends who don’t share the same knowledge of what adheres to the online persona? The anguish comes from it if the person is heavily invested in their social media platform. If these factors lead to criticism which is cited to be the most influential and embarrassment inducing incident. This is a direct link between social media and its negative effect on mental health and stability. In the same article and the driving force behind the embarrassment if the fear of the unknown. The unknown audience to be exact. It is shown that the thought of a stranger encountering a face threatening posts leads to stronger responses in both embarrassment and anxiety. However, if the post is embarrassing but still in line with their online identity they are much more likely to keep the content and in some cases, laugh it off.

            In my analysis of these sources I have seen mush to indicate that online stimuli and interaction can and do have negative impacts on the self. If what I’m suggesting was not true then it would have been unnecessary to enact legislation nationwide to make the act of cyberbullying illegal. Along with the effects of personal attacks which come from negative interactions no interactions and loneliness are also valid attacks and harmful to the self. For these reasons, I believe that social media can and I’m many cases effect mental, physical and emotional stability and present a threat if not used properly and safely.

 Works Cited

STEPHEN, MARCHE. “Is Facebook Making Us Lonely?” theatlantic, https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/05/is-facebook-making-us-lonely/308930/. Accessed 18th April 2017.
Anne Oeldorf-Hirsch., et al. “Your post is embarrassing me: Face threats, identity, and the audience on Facebook” Computers in Human Behavior, Vol.73,(2017) Journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/comphumbeh Accessed 18th April. 2017
Oduaran, Choja. “Psychological Violence and the bane of Cyber-Harassment against Women: An Experiential Inquest on Facebook” Gender & Behavior. 2016, Vol. 14 Issue 3, p7589-7608. 20p. Accessed April 15, 2017

PAB #3

Pab #3

Due to the fact that my article focuses on the effects of social media in my particular case Facebook I found another article that attributes itself to the platform. Although it mentions Facebook it actually takes a step away from previous articles and focuses on women. While this is a step away from a more generalized approach I believe that the article still hold value and due to its narrow scope can provide insight that other papers would gloss over or marginalize completely. So, in this article written by Oduaran Choja and Okorie Nelson face book is scanned for elements of cyber harassment and the potential consequences on women. The articles source of information is stated to be through questionnaires of willing participants and because of this indicated the authors composed their own information in the creation of this paper. Furthermore, the paper argues for global and societal recognition of its thesis although this message is separate from what I intend to draw from this source. The paper makes use of strong pathos based arguments and uses some rather morbid and plain depressing examples to prove that the issue discussed exists and can have major influence on people’s everyday lives and as a result leaping from “Just an online issue” to real life. This article because of its attempt to prove that Facebook related interactions can lead to real harm lines up perfectly with my overall argument and because of this I can incorporate elements, ideas and diction to strengthen my paper and reinforce my thesis.

Works Cited

Oduaran, Choja. “Psychological Violence and the bane of Cyber-Harassment against Women: An Experiential Inquest on Facebook” Gender & Behavior. 2016, Vol. 14 Issue 3, p7589-7608. 20p. Accessed April 15, 2017

PAB Entry #2

PAB #2

            In my article, which covers how embarrassment, identity and the knowledge that an audience exists and can possibly see your posted content effects what is posted in relation to how one views their self-identity and how they cope with potential embarrassment. The argument is that there are links between posted content and how they think said info will shape their online “Self-identity”. While most of the info shows that even if embarrassed the majority would laugh it off some would delete it. Interestingly enough the closer the posted info was to fitting their personality the less likely they were to delete it. The article covers Facebook as the source of its info and as such can be used in tandem with my first PAB. In terms of support this article is iron clad with over 50 separate references to further academic sources. Because of this I feel that the information if surrounded by a well thought out thesis could do much to argue my inquiry which is also based in Facebook and the effects on the platform to the actual person using it. The conclusion concludes that there is a positive link between posted content and whether there is an emotional/mental response. The article refers to potential threats to the personal view of self as “Face-Threatening attacks” and this makes many appearances throughout the article and is potentially the biggest source ill implement in my future paper drafts. I’d say that this article has a wealth of value that I will take advantage off and weave into a strong narrative with more time.

 Works cited

Anne Oeldorf-Hirsch., et al. “Your post is embarrassing me: Face threats, identity, and the audience on Facebook” Computers in Human Behavior, Vol.73,(2017) Journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/comphumbeh Accessed 5 April. 2017

PAB Entry #1

PAB Entry #1 In the article “Is Facebook Making Us Lonely?” written by Stephen Marche his argument is that despite the increasing number of ways to connect to each other the value of these interactions has become numerous but inherently less valuable and as a result people are more detached or lonelier. The article while focuses on Facebook actually takes an idea from google+ and it is very impactful to the article. The quote the author provides from google+ refers to adding “Your real friends” on its platform however the phrase itself opens a whole new thought process which can be utilized in answering my question “What are the mental health risks or benefits of users of Facebook?” because of all these added “friends” on Facebook are not real friends then what are they? The author supports his argument by referencing Yvette Vickers who reached out to fans for companionship when she had no social circle church or children this implied loneliness is driven home by the fact that no one knew when she died as she was mummified when found and was only visible due to the glow of a still powered computer screen. She personifies the fears that many people have and while she serves as an example statistics are provided that try to measure how many people are lonely and do a good job of it and are from reliable sources such as AARP and scholars. Also, I think this article is excellent because it provides a historical timeline of hoe technological advances have been building on this problem and because of this I could base my argument on past incarnations of technological based loneliness and build up to now.

 Works cited STEPHEN, MARCHE. “Is Facebook Making Us Lonely?” theatlantic, https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/05/is-facebook-making-us-lonely/308930/. Accessed 28 March 2017.

Reflection #6

Through the multiple drafts of this second paper I underwent multiple changes in my thoughts about how I should approach its writing and learned how to embed code into blogger to improve the presentation of my post. Going in I poured quite a bit of effort into my rough draft, my thinking behind this is I wanted a strong platform on which to build the drafts. However, since I was satisfied with my rough draft I found it difficult to find places to improve and improve word flow because in my mind it sounded good. What broke that transfection was the proof readings I had done by other students whom I consider to be good writers and they smoothed out a few sections. In addition, I improved the thesis paragraph in the intro to kind of introduce what I was going to talk about while maintaining the philosophy of “Anyone can pick this up and learn/understand”. Also, I’m very grateful to have a working blog and comments because my partner’s suggestion on the inclusion of another literary technique was great. After that I found another and implemented It into the last paragraph and feel like it improved the wealth that my paper had to provide. So with my thesis improved and my body paragraphs buffed up I then learned to embed the actual quote into blogger and I’m proud to say it looks more professional.

Paper #2 (Final Draft)

Paper #2 Rhetorical Analysis

            Rhetoric by definition means “the art of effective or persuasive speaking or writing, especially the use of figures of speech and other compositional techniques”. Inherent in the definition the goal of the author is to persuade. Ways to accomplish persuasion are to appeal to human values. While these very values are subject to individuals bias there are overarching approaches that are more or less effective based on the individual. Ethos is an appeal to ethics, and it is a means of convincing someone that they can be trusted based on their character and reputation. Pathos is an appeal to emotion, and is a way of convincing an audience through raising an emotional response while Logos is an appeal to logic. These tools are used in literary settings to argue a point and as evidenced by President Trump can be used to create strong arguments if utilized well.

            I have chosen a post from the president of the United States, Donald Trump. Based on his personal preferences Trump chooses to utilize the social media site “Twitter” for both personal and political posts. The platform Twitter has a character limit of 140 per post. The character limit effects the way the platform is used. Being limited to 140 characters means that this platform doesn’t have the utility that a book or a blog provides due to the limiting of space. This limit its safe to say forces the user to condense their posts and makes the focus on diction even greater if they are attempting to argue a point that would require more that the allotted space. This point is exceedingly valid by pointing out that a book or other non-character restricted platform allows the benefit of infinite space to the author in which they could use to construct an effective Ethos, Pathos or Logos oriented argument. Another effect of condensing arguments is that it allows and even encourages exaggeration, as evidenced by the multiple exclamation points and single word accusations that in any unrestricted platforms would be unacceptable. With these points in mind well see how Trump create strong arguments despite platform constraints.

The post is as follows ““One of the most effective press conferences I've ever seen!" says Rush Limbaugh. Many agree. Yet FAKE MEDIA calls it differently! Dishonest”. This post by President Donald Trump came in response to public and media testimonies that his speech on 17 Feb 2017 was for lack of a better term “bad”. There are multiple levels on which this particular post can be dissected and due to Trumps Emphasis on the “FAKE MEDIA” I will also have to provide context to this accusation, while the context is still on his twitter account it is however on a separate twitter post which I will also provide a link to. To begin Donald Trump Quotes Rush Limbaugh and his opinion on his speech in response to the accusations. In the sphere of politics Rush Limbaugh summarized is a conservative political commentator who works on Fox News (also known to be of conservative leaning) and who’s party alignment coincides with Trump’s own. This is telling in who the audience of this tweet. Rush Limbaugh is a very well-known and respected figure in republican media and as such his opinion would hold significant weight with those who agree with him and have developed a following so the target audience is republicans. This is a tactical move on Trumps part, by actively including Rush Limbaugh he is using his reputation to solidify his own while appealing to their Republican audience! This is a direct example of ethos use.

Donald Trump in the first half of his point defends his speech and himself as I’ve argued and for the second half he employs an Ad Hominem attack on the “FAKE MEDIA”. To build on that first we must look at what an Ad Hominem attacks is. An ad hominem attack is a logical fallacy in which an argument is diverted or ignored by attacking the character, motive, or other attribute of the “person” making the argument, or persons associated with the argument, rather than attacking the meat of the argument itself. President Donald Trump employs this attack to discredit the news outlets involved in covering the negative response to his speech. By employing ad hominem, he discredits them by attempting to call into question their bias and truthfulness. By doing this he can if his argument is accepted invalidate the criticism towards him while turning the tables and being the attacker himself. This use of literary techniques allows him to ignore the attacks on himself while creating the narrative that he is correct and his position unshaken. This appeal to his readers falls outside the realm of just an appeal to ethos, it exemplifies Logos. This can be evidenced by the very last word “Dishonest”. Logos is an appeal to logic and by accusing the “fake media” to be dishonest it would imply that the logical conclusion would be to dismiss all criticisms of this “fake media”.  Thus, it is safe to say that by analyzing just a few of trumps tweets we can formulate that he has a firm grasp on rhetoric and employs it to suit his needs in his life and business.

Quote Analyzed

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/832730328108134402

Context to “FAKE NEWS”

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/832708293516632065

"One of the most effective press conferences I've ever seen!" says Rush Limbaugh. Many agree.Yet FAKE MEDIA calls it differently! Dishonest

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 17, 2017

Reflection #5

So, I’ve made arrangements to go to the writing labs so they can help me organize my paper. It’s been a pain because I can’t see where my sentences or ideas are choppy. In my mind my arguments are solid but I do agree that the order or “flow” of the paper seems off. Also, I’d like to reassess how my conclusion works. Since I haven’t implemented the changes that were suggested in the last class session I’ll probably prioritize reformatting. One addition im working on is to have a pic of the tweet in my paper so that the reader wouldn’t have to leave my blog to see what I’m discussing. Also, I’ve kind of agonized on whether my introduction is as good as my peers. The examples of good introductions actually have a intro that addresses what the paper is going to be about while mine is more roundabout and kind of sets the stage with literary background info before addressing the use of those elements in the tweet I analyzed. This is because I’ve written around the whole “Can anyone who picks up your paper follow the info”. If possible id like some feedback as to whether this is a good literary technique or if I should abandon it.

(Draft #2) Paper #2 Rhetorical Analysis

Paper #2 Rhetorical Analysis

            Rhetoric by definition means “the art of effective or persuasive speaking or writing, especially the use of figures of speech and other compositional techniques”. Inherent in the definition the goal of the author is to persuade. Ways to accomplish persuasion are to appeal to human values. While these very values are subject to individuals bias there are overarching approaches that are more or less effective based on the individual. Ethos is an appeal to ethics, and it is a means of convincing someone that they can be trusted based on their character and reputation. Pathos is an appeal to emotion, and is a way of convincing an audience through raising an emotional response while Logos is an appeal to logic. These tools are used in literary settings to argue a point.

            I have chosen a post from the president of the United States, Donald Trump. Based on his personal preferences Trump chooses to utilize the social media site “Twitter” for both personal and political posts. The platform Twitter has a character limit of 140 per post. The character limit effects the way the platform is used. Being limited to 140 characters means that this platform doesn’t have the utility that a book or a blog provides due to the limiting of space. This limit its safe to say forces the user to condense their posts and makes the focus on diction even greater if they are attempting to argue a point that would require more that the allotted space. This point is exceedingly valid by pointing out that while a book or other non-character restricted platform allows the benefit of infinite space to the author in which they could use to construct an effective Ethos, Pathos or Logos oriented argument.

The post is as follows ““One of the most effective press conferences I've ever seen!" says Rush Limbaugh. Many agree. Yet FAKE MEDIA calls it differently! Dishonest”. This post by President Donald Trump came in response to public and media testimonies that his speech on 17 Feb 2017 was for lack of a better term “bad”. There are multiple levels on which this particular post can be dissected and due to Trumps Emphasis on the “FAKE MEDIA” I will also have to provide context to this accusation, while the context is still on his twitter account it is however on a separate twitter post which I will also provide a link to. To begin Donald Trump Quotes Rush Limbaugh and his opinion on his speech in response to the accusations. In the sphere of politics Rush Limbaugh summarized is a conservative political commentator who works on Fox News (also known to be of conservative leaning) and who’s party alignment coincides with Trump’s own. This is telling in who the audience of this tweet. Rush Limbaugh is a very well-known and respected figure in republican media and as such his opinion would hold significant weight with those who agree with him and have developed a following so the target audience is republicans. This is a tactical move on Trumps part, by actively including Rush Limbaugh he is using his reputation to solidify his own while appealing to their Republican audience! This is a direct example of ethos use.

Donald Trump in the first half of his point defends his speech and himself as I’ve argued and for the second half he employs an Ad Hominem attack on the “FAKE MEDIA”. To build on that first we must look at what an Ad Hominem attacks is. An ad hominem attack is a logical fallacy in which an argument is diverted or ignored by attacking the character, motive, or other attribute of the “person” making the argument, or persons associated with the argument, rather than attacking the meat of the argument itself. President Donald Trump employs this attack to discredit the news outlets involved in covering the negative response to his speech. By employing ad hominem, he discredits them by attempting to call into question their bias and truthfulness. By doing this he can if his argument is accepted invalidate the criticism towards him while turning the tables and being the attacker himself. This use of literary techniques allows him to ignore the attacks on himself while creating the narrative that he is correct and his position unshaken. Thus it is safe to say that by analyzing just a few of trumps tweets we can formulate that he has a firm grasp on rhetoric and employs it to suit his needs in his life and business

Quote Analyzed

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/832730328108134402

Context to “FAKE NEWS”

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/832708293516632065

Reflection #4

I have recently learned more about literary fallacies through the readings. While I had already encountered these kind of literary devices before I really didn’t have a firm grasp as to the total amount there were and how they are used. Honestly there are way more than I expected and actually have had a fun time putting a label on the information I had already thought to be odd. So after the reading I noticed the comments on my first draft. Fernando is a great partner and suggested that I need to strengthen my conclusion and I agree. Maybe if I prioritize the “so what?” approach to my conclusion I can provide a real wrap up. It seems that I also need to work on combining my choppy sentences and restructuring them into a single cohesive free flowing paragraph. I think my issue is I’m trying to get across my point and multiple messages to quickly and in the process actually diluting the strength of the messages I’m trying to convey. I’ll work on it and I’m looking forward to Friday where we will cover the outline. I tend to make mistakes but I try my hardest not to let them happen again and improve myself, whether in writing or life in general. Also I feel like I could improve my diction in some ways and if you have any suggestions I’d love to hear it. Thanks for helping me become a better writer.

Quiz 3

In comparing the two paragraphs while they both have merits i believe on the whole the second paragraph is more successful in convincing me as the audience. So the first passage starts with the describing of the personal importance of the topic to the author. This could be an attempt to elicit sympathy(pathos) especially since he describes the urge to be constantly coming to him. Moving forward he mentions the new testament and how his message is being derived in part by its scripture. This could elicit a response from a devout believer (pathos) and make the author's message seem to have a religious bend to it. The rest of the article involves explaining  chronos and kairos and doesn't seem to mention and solutions or way to combat climate change and as such i believe this to be the weaker article.

In contrast the second article focuses on the use of evidence and actually argues points to combat climate change. These appeals and plans to combat climate change in the structure of political and business platforms leaves the article with a logos based appeal. To further backup my statement the author of the second paragraph lays plans for financial assistance the growing of alternative energy sources and urges federal authorities to cooperate. Based on the more detailed info and plans on how to accomplish their plans i support the second article as the more effective one.

(Draft 1) Paper #2 Rhetorical Analysis

Paper #2 Rhetorical Analysis

            Rhetoric by definition means “the art of effective or persuasive speaking or writing, especially the use of figures of speech and other compositional techniques”. Inherent in the definition the goal of the author is to persuade. Ways to accomplish persuasion are to appeal to human values. While these very values are subject to individuals bias there are overarching approaches that are more or less effective based on the individual. Ethos is an appeal to ethics, and it is a means of convincing someone that they can be trusted based on their character and reputation. Pathos is an appeal to emotion, and is a way of convincing an audience through raising an emotional response while Logos is an appeal to logic. These tools are used in literary settings to argue a point.

            I have chosen a post from the president of the United States, Donald Trump. Based on his personal preferences Trump chooses to utilize the social media site “Twitter” for both personal and political posts. The platform Twitter has a character limit of 140 per post. The character limit effects the way the platform is used. Being limited to 140 characters means that this platform doesn’t have the utility that a book or a blog provides due to the limiting of space. This limit its safe to say forces the user to condense their posts and makes the focus on diction even greater if they are attempting to argue a point that would require more that the allotted space. This point is exceedingly valid by pointing out that while a book or other non-character restricted platform allows the benefit of infinite space to the author in which they could use to construct an effective Ethos, Pathos or Logos oriented argument.

            The post is as follows ““One of the most effective press conferences I've ever seen!" says Rush Limbaugh. Many agree. Yet FAKE MEDIA calls it differently! Dishonest”. This post by President Donald Trump came in response to public and media testimonies that his speech on 17 Feb 2017 was for lack of a better term “bad”. There are multiple levels on which this particular post can be dissected and due to Trumps Emphasis on the “FAKE MEDIA” I will also have to provide context to this accusation, while the context is still on his twitter account it is however on a separate twitter post which I will also provide a link to. To begin Donald Trump Quotes Rush Limbaugh and his opinion on his speech in response to the accusations. In the sphere of politics Rush Limbaugh summarized is a conservative political commentator who works on Fox News (also known to be of conservative leaning) and who’s party alignment coincides with Trump’s own. This is telling in who the audience of this tweet. Rush Limbaugh is a very well-known and respected figure in republican media and as such his opinion would hold significant weight with those who agree with him and have developed a following so the target audience is republicans. This is a tactical move on Trumps part, by actively including Rush Limbaugh he is using his reputation to solidify his own while appealing to their Republican audience! This is a direct example of ethos use.

Donald Trump in the first half of his point defends his speech and himself as I’ve argued and for the second half he employs an Ad Hominem attack on the “FAKE MEDIA”. To build on that first we must look at what an Ad Hominem attacks is. An ad hominem attack is a logical fallacy in which an argument is diverted or ignored by attacking the character, motive, or other attribute of the “person” making the argument, or persons associated with the argument, rather than attacking the meat of the argument itself. President Donald Trump employs this attack to discredit the news outlets involved in covering the negative response to his speech. By employing ad hominem, he discredits them by attempting to call into question their bias and truthfulness. By doing this he can if his argument is accepted invalidate the criticism towards him while turning the tables and being the attacker himself.

Quote Analyzed

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/832730328108134402

Context to “FAKE NEWS”

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/832708293516632065

In-Class Mini Rhetorical Analyses

In-Class Mini Rhetorical Analyses
Personally i was interested in this post because it shows how Melania Trump as the first lady is taking on her role. Melania's posted her meeting with Israel's prime ministers wife apparently discussing matters between our country's. I would assume that this post is supposed to signify that the relationship between the United States and Israel is still strong and ongoing based on the general friendly cooperative tone of the tweet. In this case since the post is in relation to global politics i feel this post's audience is the world and its governments. Melania's choice of diction seems to me to indicate the use of logos to reinforce her role as first lady and thus her political power. For example their "friendship" is a sign of cooperation between not just two people but two countries thus raising the significance of the statement.

"Thank you Mrs. Netanyahu for your friendship and dedication #PowerOfTheFirstLady" Via Twitter
https://twitter.com/FLOTUS/status/832082505528442881

Reflection #3

So while writing my final draft I referred to my notes from the optional class quite a lot. I feel like it’s a good thing I followed the suggestions from the teacher but on the other hand I can’t help but feel that I could have done better. I’m so used to writing a certain way that changing it may actually make me get a worse score. By that I’m referring to the conclusion, I incorporated the whole “so what?” thought process and instead of restating my thesis I provided a sort of dialog that was intended to defend and further prove the thesis. Other than that I fixed my quotation, the fact that I’ve been implementing quotes for so long and sometimes have been doing it wring bother me but I’m glad I’ve acquired this skill.  So in continuing to polish my paper I added another “topic” to my paper. While I had focused on privacy and its effect on the self-writing capabilities as a whole I added “Identity” to the mix as I felt it has a lot of overlay into my arguments. I hope it doesn’t feel tacked on but I used the topic to solidify my argument in the conclusion, as to whether this was a good decision I have yet to receive a second opinion.

(Final Draft) Facebook: History and culture

Facebook: History and culture

Facebook from its inception as a social media platform has evolved beyond that singular purpose and is now a fluid multipurpose platform from which self-writing capabilities have arisen. However, with the rise in claims of vast data archiving the value of the medium is effected in various regards.

            The history of Facebook began in February of 2004 as Mark Zuckerberg and a group of others created a simple messaging platform aimed at friend to friend communication. However, as time passed it began to encompass “more than 800 college networks” and from there Spread to a global phenomenon. Following this incremental changes such as the inclusion of individual posts that serve to inform other of their activities or just information in general began. These among other changes would continue to manifest until the Facebook we know today emerged. The platform today is a behemoth with 1.86 billion monthly active users and has also expanded the available features. No longer just a message board it is now a tool for companies to advertise, governments to collect data en masse, and people to express they’re likes and dislikes as well as opinions and themselves. This possibility of personal expression is allowed through a Facebook “page” introduced as early as 2004 and expanding uses continually as far up as 2011 with the introduction of “timelines” which in literary terms provide a clear value. In addition to timelines groups of like minded individuals or with shared interests can join a “group” and use this space to create narratives or even by limiting the audience use that space as a public journal akin to a stage and thus makes us the actors.

            So has this platform with its features been used in terms of self-writing and has it had an effect on self-writing culture? Absolutely Facebook is inherently different from a journal or diary in the sense that for a vast majority of users it is used as a platform to network as opposed to keeping a log of information. By this unless an individual takes advantage of the security and privacy features the post is more often than not going to be public. It is safe to say that a closed diary tucked away in the darkness of a room is more secure than a very platform that has “social” in the tagline. So because of this even if one is to keep a, log of their life as some do it is still going to be subject to outward public opinions and the holdings of the super ego. Due to this difference in security and the very nature of the medium Facebook cannot emulate the diary in terms of security and content and therefore comparisons of the two are limited.

            As discussed the matter of privacy and what one may or may not post is relevant in its effect on self-writing. Whether this effect is conscious of unconscious it is still relevant. Rethlefsen states that “Regular people have also started seriously to weigh the benefits of Facebook against the potentially high cost of loss of privacy.” This quote and the journal it is attached to is telling how far Facebook has come from its roots as a simple “board based” platform in which all comments were stacked in one space and accessed together instead of fragmented posts. It is because of this information and the understanding that once it’s on the internet its “there forever” lead to an effect on the validity or at least honesty of the content posted on Facebook. This feeling of potentially being watched and recorded actively changes all forms of self-writing. From stories that may be edited to be less accurate or detailed for fear of potential archiving to the very rhetoric in which the “posts” are constructed the changes exist. In some cases, this online “persona” that an individual creates can actually harm themselves. It is regarded by some as common knowledge but businesses and organizations tend to look at social media to determine whether or not a candidate is good to hire. This possibility of losing out on a job is just another example that while Facebook is a self-writing platform you can’t always believe what you read online.

Work cited:

Mat Honan, Gizmodo, 2/01/12 5:16pm, UTRGV Library, http://gizmodo.com/5881431/view-facebooks-entire-history-as-a-timeline, Accessed February 1^st 2006

Rethlefsen, Melissa L, search.proquest.com, Library Journal; New York, (Jul 01, 2010), http://search.proquest.com.ezhost.utrgv.edu:2048/docview/818699761?pq-origsite=summon,  Accessed February 1^st 2006

Statista, Number of Facebook users worldwide 2008-2016 | Statistic, http://www.easybib.com/cite/eval?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.statista.com%2Fstatistics%2F264810%2Fnumber-of-monthly-active-facebook-users-worldwide%2F /. Accessed February 14, 2017

Reflection #2

Reflection

The biggest help in my comprehension in the task of writing a good paper was by far my decision to attend the optional Friday class wherein I received a lot of good tips. For one grammatical or diction based confusions were cleared up. While the message was there the one on one allowed for the rephrasing while keeping sentiments the same, a second opinion really helped in my realization that there was even a problem in the first place. Another point was how to better my conclusion. Before I had held other notions of what really constituted an ending paragraph, aka rephrasing the thesis and concluding well. However, with the introduction of the question “So what?” I began to see that maybe a good conclusion consists of the preemptive answering of that question. I’ll work on refining that point as it falls out of my comfort zone of how I’ve always written. While those aren’t the only things I learned (incorporating quotes correctly) I feel that I’ve gained a minor hold on some new valuable literary techniques. 

(Rough Draft#2) Facebook: History and culture

Facebook: History and culture

Facebook from its inception as a social media platform has evolved beyond that singular purpose and is now a fluid multipurpose platform from which self-writing capabilities have arisen.  Because Facebook has the capability to archive users' posts, people wouldn't want to write something that may have a permanent averse effect on their lives.

            The history of Facebook began in February of 2004 and began as a simple messaging platform aimed at friend to friend communication. However, as time passed it began to encompass “more than 800 college networks” and from there began to see incremental changes such as the inclusion of posts that serve to inform other of their activities, these changes would continue to manifest until the Facebook we know today emerged. The platform today is a behemoth and has expanded the available features in turn. No longer just a message board it is now a tool for companies to advertise, governments to collect data en masse, and people to express they’re likes and dislikes as well as opinions and themselves. This possibility of personal expression is allowed through a Facebook “page” introduced as early as 2004 and expanding uses continually as far up as 2011 with the introduction of “timelines” which in literary terms provide a clear value. In addition to timelines groups of likeminded individuals or with shared interests can join a “group” and use this space to create narratives or even by limiting the audience use that space as a public journal akin to a stage.

            So how is this platform with its features used in terms of self-writing and has it had an effect on self-writing culture? Absolutely Facebook is inherently different from a journal or diary in the sense that for a vast majority of users it is used as a platform to network as opposed to keeping a log of information. By this unless an individual takes advantage of the security and privacy features the post is more often than not going to be public. It is safe to say that a closed diary tucked away in the darkness of a room is more secure than a very platform that has “social” in the tagline. So because of this even if one is to keep a, log of their life as some do it is still going to be subject to outward public opinions and the holdings of the super ego. Due to this difference in security and the very nature of the medium Facebook cannot emulate the diary in terms of security and content and therefore comparisons of the two are limited.

            As discussed the matter of privacy and what one may or may not post is relevant in its effect on self-writing. Whether this effect is conscious of unconscious it is still relevant. “Regular people have also started seriously to weigh the benefits of Facebook against the potentially high cost of loss of privacy.” This quote and the journal it is attached to is telling how far Facebook has come from its roots as a simple “board based” platform in which all comments were stacked in one space and accessed together instead of fragmented posts. It is because of this information and the understanding that once it’s on the internet its “there forever” lead to an effect on the validity or at least honesty of the content posted on Facebook. This feeling of potentially being watched and recorded changes all forms of self-writing. From stories that may be edited to be less accurate or detailed for fear of potential archiving to the very rhetoric in which the “posts” are constructed the underlying potential of Facebook's policies have an effect on those who are aware of said policies.

Work cited:

Mat Honan, Gizmodo, 2/01/12 5:16pm, UTRGV Library, http://gizmodo.com/5881431/view-facebooks-entire-history-as-a-timeline, Accessed February 1^st 2006

Rethlefsen, Melissa L, search.proquest.com, Library Journal; New York, (Jul 01, 2010), http://search.proquest.com.ezhost.utrgv.edu:2048/docview/818699761?pq-origsite=summon,  Accessed February 1^st 2006