Alex Schlack
RWS100
Chris Werry
September 7, 2014
Writing Assignment Rough Draft
In
the text Public Thinking, Clive Thompson discusses about the change
and evolution of reading and writing over the past thirty to forty years, and argues
against most people that the new technological advancements today have actually
improved human intelligence through increased everyday reading and
writing. A little background information
about Clive Thompson; Clive is an American Journalist born in Canada and graduated
form the University of Toronto where he studied political science and
English. He then worked for New
York Times Magazine where he got interested in learning about digital
technologies and their social and cultural impact on publications. In his work,
he mainly tried getting us to believe that people have the wrong views on
technology and social media, because as he talks about and backs up with facts,
is that today the amount of words being spoken and read a day have increased
drastically over the years and have actually made the average person
smarter. In my analysis form his text, I will examine the various
claims he emphasizes, his uses of strategy to get his point across, and also
the evidence that backs it up.
Public
thinking is an attribute of ours that our brain subconsciously does constantly.
One of Thompson’s main claim supports his overall argument by specifying
exactly how much more reading and writing benefits your everyday thought
process. In doing this, he uses various
journalists who study this stuff as well to assist him. For an
example, Thompson introduces and supplements various ideas from a young scholar
named Deborah Brandt. In Deborah
Brandt’s discussion about reading and writing, she arguably states, “It helps Clarify
one’s thinking,” “It crystallizes your thought.” You see this is
very important because society today thinks that all this tweeting and
facebooking is a big distraction and a brain killer when in reality it helps us
due to all the reading; it clarifies our thought process. One way
that Thompson uses to support his evidence is through ethos, and how he
establishes credibility in his research. Gaining insight from all these
journalists is extremely helpful when trying to convince the reader. Thompson
also throws out tons of facts with the hope of shocking the reader, and to
exemplify how often people actually write and talk each day. Utilizing
intellectual evidence and statistics is a major strength, by persuading the
reader by overwhelming them with information and surprising them with
statistics that they never knew about. The use of numerical statistics and
experimental research studies in this scene was the right path of evidence to
prove and back up Thompson’s main argument. One aspect that Thompson does lack
though in his writing is the opposing view. He never really talks about what
the people who disagree with him, think as well. That is important
so Thompson can say this is what people think, this is what I know. He can
empower the public by doing so, and help influence peoples point of view on the
dispute.
Another
one of Thompson’s claims is how powerful of an impact an audience can stress
upon a writer. This is really important to Thompson for he shows how
writing where there is a huge audience such as the Internet can alter the way a
person writes. According to Thompson’s observation, this is called the
“audience effect.” This effect is huge and has a major influence on
writers. This idea is specifically
explained through his interview with Gabriel Weinberg. Weinberg
states, “If someone could come across it under my name, I have to take it more
seriously. Crucially, he didn’t want to bore anyone…Social scientists call this
the “audience effect”-the shift in our performance when we know people are
watching.” This is quote is an evident example that supports Thompson’s
argument, and is a situation in which other people can relate to. When Weinberg
says “it”, he is referring to the quality of his writing when under pressure of
an audience. Having an audience actually
read or just simply listen to your writing changes and clarifies your thinking
process. Knowing that people will see what you write formulates how you
structure you writing in the first place; for example your writing performance
becomes more self-aware, precise, and sophisticated. Thompson uses
the interview and expert testimony as concrete evidence that establishes the
benefits of the Internet and in publishing written work. Thompson also confidently asserts that the
audience effect is something likely of convincing the readers. He solely wanted to use Weinberg’s expertise
to explain “the theory” about how an audience can persuade a writer. What
people don’t realize is that when they write online they self-consciously don’t
understand how they are writing compared to if they were writing something only
for themselves. The audience effect is crucial in forming a strong foundation
for Thompson’s overall argument.
Thompson’s
last main claim is that the amount of writing done today is an immense increase
compared to the amount of writing done in the past. Technology today
has come such a long way, yet making writing more convenient and easier to
access. This is important because Thompson has already proved, that the more
reading and writing you do the more intellect you acquire. Thompson supports his thesis by backing it up
saying that there are multiple benefits that result from reading everyday. Thompson uses various different strategies
for this claim to powerfully back up his main argument that there really is a
vast increase in writing and pubic thinking today inspired by the Internet and
the beneficial changes it offers in individuals and for society. According
to Thompson’s research, “We compose 154 billion e-mails, more than 500 million
tweets on Twitter, and over 1 million blog posts and 1.3 million blog
comments on World Press alone. “On Facebook, we write about 16
billion words per day, and that’s just in the United States…I calculated that
we’re composing at least 3.6 trillion words daily, or equivalent of 36 million
books everyday.” This quote is really powerful, and influential. The
purpose behind this quote is to express in numbers, how much writing exactly goes
on during this period. It’s important because it proves how much writing
actually does take place during our time, which helps people comprehend that
fact we do get smarter. Thompson
uses numerical statistics and research observations as evidence for his
theory. Throwing out all of these statistics is significant and
pursues the reader by overflowing them with actual facts the amount of writing
being done today. He wants to exemplify through proof to support his
claim that our era is an era of reading and writing.
In
Thompson’s writing he does a really good job of expressing his main argument.
He develops various claims throughout his work to help back up that
argument. He precisely chooses his evidence in order for him to have
credibility in his work. Interviewing and gaining knowledge and
insight form historians and scholars in these studies is brilliant on his part.
Through this, he can more influence the reader by getting his point across
through professional help. Including personal expertise opinion and historical
events from experts as well as numerical statistics help provide evidence to
evidently back up his main point. By
using Deborah Brandt’s thoughtful insight, Weinberg’s idea on the “audience
effect”, and the list of statistics, Thompson was able to structurally create a
backbone of evidence for his argument. His strategies seemed very proficient as
well; the way he organized his text, the way he established ethos, use of style
and tone, and the way he addressed the reader were additions to his so called
masterpiece. However, there were some flaws as well. One thing that Thompson
lacked in his writing, was the opposing view and opinion. When writing a
persuasive paper, the most important thing to do is state what most people
think or whom you are disagreeing with, thinks. That way your opinion is more
specifically distinguished from the majority, yet clarifying your state of
mind. Also, Thompson did provide lots of evidence on how much people
write today but didn’t really stress upon the average amount of writing that
was done in the past, which is what he is ultimately comparing it to. More
structural evidence on that topic would have brought this piece more together.
Overall, I would have to agree with Mr. Clive Thompson. People
underestimate and overthink how much writing is done today. And
believe it or not, through all the new advanced technology and social
media, people have overall gotten smarter because of all the writing they do
each day. People need to open their eyes and realize the true significance in
all this new technology, and all the benefits that come out of it.
