Rhetorical Analysis of New Media (With a Spiritual Twist)

As I read all the articles, each brought forth a different emotion. The last one I read, "Can You Hear Me Now?", left me pretty frustrated with how disconnected we are with the human beings right around us. But on the other hand the article, "Dear Students: Don't Let College Unplug Your Future", left me so pumped about being a part of this intangible world. I hate to think that I liked this piece by Gideon Burton because it fed my sub-conscious cravings for the virtual world. It made being on the internet and utilizing social media not only "not bad" but actually something positive and good.
This leads me into my first question: What is the author's intent and what are they trying to persuade the audience? I believe he wants us to view social media as a good thing and use it to benefit our education. His goal was to persuade us that a college education from a University is likely to be behind the times and the most current way to receive an education or be a part of the "real world" is to embrace the social media.
Sometimes during his argument, I felt as if he were mocking the idea of social media. He said things like:
"You don't evin haf to spel rite, though that doesn't hurt."
"Find those crazed teachers who have not been lobotomized by the moribund methodology of conventional learning and teaching."
-I think his blunt disapproval or maybe even attack on conventional learning makes him seem a little careless and almost enough to not know whether to take him seriously or not. Therefore his delivery was rather weak in this aspect but despite those moments, I would give him an A+ in delivery. He really appeals to his audience and gives interesting examples.

One last thing that may have weakened his argument or made him lose ethos was when he said:
"Trust the ones who give you their cell phone numbers..." He gives his students his cell phone number as he said previously in the passage, therefore he is essentially saying, "Trust me, and people like me."

He uses a lot of imagery, for example: (also an analogy)
"Treat your classes like you do your CDs- rip, trade, and burn the best tracks, deleting what doesn't fit in your playlist."

Gideon uses epicrisis when he recounts the story of trying to get social media into college curriculum and then just ends with, "So very chilling, but that is academia for you." The story pretty much spoke for itself. This is also evidence to his argument.

He also uses many hyperboles which solidify his stance:
"They can't help but kill the things that would bring your education to life. Oh, the humanities!"

He definitely used some pathos for me because I just got a blog so I could really relate to his story of picking an intern based on the contents of her blog. He emphasized the fact that there may no longer be resume but just your record of social media.

He made a good counter argument that I considered as well: the internet can be scary. Somehow, although there are unfortunate instances, he seemed to convince me that it is more important to have one then not to.

I also liked how he used interjections to give voice and make it entertaining which made the paper more appealing.

So is this article effective? I believe it was. It made me realize how important social media can be and it is something we should embrace. I feel like it adequately did that for me but I still have my own qualms, especially after reading the other articles.

This has become my stance:
I think we should embrace social media and use it for good in the world. We must be careful not to be consumed by it. Ultimately, the one thing I am worried about it our connection with other people. In my Sunday School lesson, I became enlightened with this idea when teaching about revelation. When we want to receive revelation sometimes we need to take a step back and become disconnected with all media so we can focus on what the Spirit is trying to communicate. So why would it be bad though if we communicated just through technology? Why does that feel wrong? How our Heavenly Father communicates is not through technology but rather through our hearts and we want to become like Him. So personal interaction is very important and I would agree that sometimes you can touch others hearts through the media but when we are there and personal, is when we can make a real impact so we can't forget this. Also the media can give us alternate identities in a way. In Pres. Monson's devotional to the BYU students he counseled us to "Remember who you are". The prophets are divinely inspired and usually see things coming before we know they will happen. This may be good advice for right now but I think it may be even more valuable in the future. We are Children of God and we mustn't forget.