In the excerpt from The Young and the Digital, written by S. Craig Watkins, he gives an in depth analysis of the use of social media. He focused his studies on men and women ranging from 15 to 24 years old. Watkins uses MySpace and Facebook to provide examples to his beliefs of the cultural divisions. As he writes he compares how Facebook and MySpace users are grouped into two different factions. Just as in the real world people are grouped in a similar way. The thesis of the article is to try to get people to realize that the internet creates the same culture distinction issues as does the real world. He is writing to all of society even non-internet users. Being a social media user I believe his argument is convincing but it’s kind of tough
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He first begins by comparing culture in real life to the web. He states in his second paragraph, “The truth is nearly every facet of our daily lives – the clothes we wear, the foods we eat, the schools we attend, the neighborhoods we live in, and the company we keep – bears the visible marks of social class and the ever-deepening cleavages between the economically mobile and the economically vulnerable” (506). He uses this to explain how in real life people are grouped by everything they do. Watkins then goes on to describe how people are grouped through social media. He talks about how kids who come from families who stress the importance of education and college tend to use Facebook. Also, a majority of these people are white and come from the middle to upper class. While on the other hand, MySpace users are bot from the same cultural divide. Watkins is effective here because he establishes a good understanding of how everything we do in either real life or on the internet divides us into groups. Watkins continues to talk about the cultural divide as he quotes blogger danah boyd “They are the kids whose parents didn’t go to college, who are expected to get a job when they finish high school” (506). His beginning argument is effective due to the fact he presents the information in a convincing manner. Perhaps his way of summarizing his first argument are the words he uses in paragraph four, “Life online has …show more content…
He presented this information in an organized way with true facts, creating an extremely convincing argument. He begins by comparing “new media” to “old media”. He claims that “new media” are the social networking sites and the internet in general. Then explains that “old media” is television and newspapers. Watkins believes that with todays social networking sites people are much more involved. They can get news information in seconds and have their voices heard. Now just by reading the paper or watching television you just are consuming the information. Also, it might already be a day old or so. With the internet you can get breaking news the second it happens. The problem with this is when Facebook users who are usually white receive news it might not have anything to do with black communities. It’s vice versa with MySpace. Those users who are predominantly Latino or Hispanic, they may not be seeing any news that relates to other cultures. His argument here is actually valid and true. He constructed this idea well and was organized compared to his other arguments. It was easy to comprehend and he got his idea across in an assertive manner. This was his most effective argument in the
He first begins by comparing culture in real life to the web. He states in his second paragraph, “The truth is nearly every facet of our daily lives – the clothes we wear, the foods we eat, the schools we attend, the neighborhoods we live in, and the company we keep – bears the visible marks of social class and the ever-deepening cleavages between the economically mobile and the economically vulnerable” (506). He uses this to explain how in real life people are grouped by everything they do. Watkins then goes on to describe how people are grouped through social media. He talks about how kids who come from families who stress the importance of education and college tend to use Facebook. Also, a majority of these people are white and come from the middle to upper class. While on the other hand, MySpace users are bot from the same cultural divide. Watkins is effective here because he establishes a good understanding of how everything we do in either real life or on the internet divides us into groups. Watkins continues to talk about the cultural divide as he quotes blogger danah boyd “They are the kids whose parents didn’t go to college, who are expected to get a job when they finish high school” (506). His beginning argument is effective due to the fact he presents the information in a convincing manner. Perhaps his way of summarizing his first argument are the words he uses in paragraph four, “Life online has …show more content…
He presented this information in an organized way with true facts, creating an extremely convincing argument. He begins by comparing “new media” to “old media”. He claims that “new media” are the social networking sites and the internet in general. Then explains that “old media” is television and newspapers. Watkins believes that with todays social networking sites people are much more involved. They can get news information in seconds and have their voices heard. Now just by reading the paper or watching television you just are consuming the information. Also, it might already be a day old or so. With the internet you can get breaking news the second it happens. The problem with this is when Facebook users who are usually white receive news it might not have anything to do with black communities. It’s vice versa with MySpace. Those users who are predominantly Latino or Hispanic, they may not be seeing any news that relates to other cultures. His argument here is actually valid and true. He constructed this idea well and was organized compared to his other arguments. It was easy to comprehend and he got his idea across in an assertive manner. This was his most effective argument in the