Clive Thompson Public Thinking Summary

The article “Public Thinking” by Clive Thompson is piece of work that argues against the idea that technology, social media and other types of digital informal writing negatively affect societies writing abilities. Thompson argues in favor of these digital writing methods and completely goes against these accusations by arguing that the digital writing methods actually end up helping the development of writers within our society. The article actually appears to be written in order to inform people about the benefits of this “digital literacy” while also addressing the flaws in the arguments against digital literacy. He formulates his article to support his argument through his constant creations of claims and counterclaim. Thompson makes …show more content…
He must make the assumption that whoever is reading this article cares about the quality of writing and if it is improving or getting worse. Even if they only care to the slightest degree. If he were to not make this assumption and just write a random article about a topic he would likely be less fiery in his speech and less motivated to go into depth about his claims. Another thing that he assumes is that the general public has an unspoken respect for those with qualifications or hold a position of authority. Examples of these people would be professors and famous scientists. This assumption takes a little more critical thinking to derive, but is clear through his common reference to professors or scientists in his evidence that supports his claims. By assuming that the readers have some level of respect towards these people and by being able to use their research to support his argument and claims it helps him to establish credibility. Lastly Thompson assumes multiple other things of his readers such as a familiarity with technology, having heard the argument that contradicts his, and more which I believe he does a very good job with. In my opinion Thompson uses the right amount of assumptions in order to support his argument, but assumptions alone can hardly persuade a …show more content…
Although he makes sure to address them, he doesn’t always provide concrete or factual evidence. One instance where this is especially true is when he is countering the idea that texting inhibits our literacy. More specifically that the IM-style words such as, u, lol, etc. affect our ability to spell alongside practicing informal grammar techniques. All of this is presented to the reader and countered by Thompson with vague evidence. He references “studies that have been done” as his sources that supplied him with research. This research only goes as far as to say that kids that text are better spellers, without any additional support. Also in one of the few lines of evidence that Thompson uses, he supplies the reader with evidence that counters his own argument. This is when he says that “youth substituted u for you only 8.6% of the time.” If you compare this “research” to anything done in the past, I’m sure that the number has only risen because there wasn’t much of a reason for people to make that substitution before