Ted Talk Rhetorical Analysis

Procrastination affects many people, I even procrastinated writing this paper. The ways that it affects us can be different, sometimes procrastination doesn’t affect us too much, but other time it can cause major health risks such as, stress or depression. Recognizing this, Tim Urban presented a Ted Talk on procrastination and the dangers it can have. In his Ted Talk “Inside the Mind of a Master Procrastinator”, Urban used pathos with a minimal amount of logos and ethos to express his message to his to the audience. Urban also used pictures to support his use of pathos. By using personal experiences and the experiences of others, Urban was able to express his knowledge and credibility on the potential dangers of procrastination. Throughout …show more content…
In the opening of his presentation, Urban expressed his personal struggles with procrastination in college. In college, he said, he would try to slowly start his paper and get it done little by little, instead he usually would wait until the last minute before the deadline to do it (0:00-0:47). By telling his stories to establish his knowledge and to make a connection with his audience, Urban used ethos. He also used ethos to build upon his credibility by talking about the responses to his blog. Through the responses, Urban realized, “These are people who were nurses, bankers, painter, engineers and lots and lots of PHD students. And they were all writing, saying the same thing: ‘I have this problem too.’ But what struck me was the contrast between the light tone of the post and the heaviness of these emails” (10:08-10:25). By including this section, he was able to explain that his understanding of this topic comes not only from his own experiences with procrastination, but he also seen and understood another side of procrastination due to other’s experiences. Seeing the damage and harm that procrastination has caused other people was one reason for his topic of