Sherry Turkle in the article “Stop Googling, Let’s Talk” argues that the technology has drastically impacted healthy development of individual that leads to communication and self-reflection problems and should be reassessed and addressed to change the way it influences our lives. The author uses effective inductive arguments and backs them up with facts, personal observations and fragments from his interviews and studies that are reliably acknowledged. The purpose of the essay is strongly persuasive, as the authors proves the drastic impact of technology and calls for social reaction. The central argument is the need to fight long-term effects of technology use among children, such as lack of empathy, inability to form friendships and to deal with solitude. The tone of the article is casual, as it intends to appeal to different audiences. The author’s beliefs that technology negatively affects children’s development highly affect his opinion, but he provides valid arguments to prove his point. The weakness of the article is lack of attention to the influence of technology on the adults and the elderly; however, it probably should be studied separately. As far as children are concerned, the issue is covered from all the necessary angles to clearly understand the point.
I strongly agree with the author’s opinion on the issue, as I can see how the technology has affected people I know. Texting is often chosen in a variety of situations, and it discourages real-life communication. I feel that a lot of people find it more difficult to communicate in traditional way than to text, and constant need to check the phone or contact somebody online makes my friends discouraged to lead a normal conversation; moreover, people get so used to texting that interpersonal communication becomes difficult to handle. I also believe that there should be ways developed to change the perspective of treating the technology and communication as such. It is essential for socialization and personal growth and development.
Ira Hyman in the article “Cell Phones are Changing Social Interaction” provides an excellent argument on the issue of cell phone usage in communication and its role in the life of people of different age groups. The author concentrates his attention on the comparison of the strong cell phone influence on young adults with the relatively low change in the lifestyle of older people. The central argument is that young adults use cell phones more often for texting, and assume it to be acceptable in the variety of situations. The arguments used by the author are inductive, and they rely on relevant and consistent research of the topic and several studies conducted by other researchers and the author. These arguments are effective, as Hyman proves them with facts, as well as his personal observations. The purpose of the article is informative, as it presents the information based on the research that is objective, and the arguments are backed up by the facts. The author expresses his opinion by accentuating that he does not want to condemn or praise the changes in social interaction, but rather inform the reader on the important social issue using formal tone. Hyman does not seem to have explicit biases, and includes all the relevant information for understanding; however, the article concentrates on young adults more, while the role of cell phone in the older adults is not covered as much.
I agree with the author’s opinion on the issue, as the frequent use of cell phones and texting is a part of my life as a young adult. My friends and me often use cell phones to contact each other, while my parents and grandparents use them normally to make calls, and do not tend to check them too often during the day. Additionally, I have observed that young adults text in all kinds of situations that may not always seem appropriate for the older people. However, I do not agree with the author that this change is normal and should not be judged, as I think as face-to-face interaction is more important for socialization.
Work cited
Hyman, Ira E. "Cell Phones Are Changing Social Interaction." Psychology Today. Psychology Today, 26 Jan. 2014. Web.
Turkle, Sherry. “Stop Googling. Let’s Talk.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 26 Sept. 2015. Web.
