Facebook's Effects on Children's Brains
Non-fiction Essay -
“How Facebook addiction is damaging your child’s brain”
You have one, I have one, and 1,5 billion other people have an account on Facebook. The number of members is increasing and so is the power of social media. Due to this development, Susan Greenfield delivered the lecture “How Facebook addiction is damaging your child’s brain” at the Woman of the Year lecture in 2009.
Greenfield is against Facebook and claims that the social media affect our children in a negative way. Therefore, she wants to protect the young from this development and introduces us to four possible changes in the young 21st-century mind: Lack of social skills, the idea that actions do not have consequences, lack of empathy, and confusion around identity. She predicts this as a plausible future if we do not take the issue of computers seriously. But is the development really this bad?
Greenfield begins her lecture by asking, “Can you imagine a world without long-term relationships?” (p. 47 ll. 1-2) which is a strange beginning if you consider the fact that the text is about Facebook’s impact on children. It seems a bit exaggerated, but nevertheless, she keeps on focusing on a future she cannot predict throughout the lecture. By beginning her lecture this way she appeals to the grown-ups in general instead of focusing on families with children. This is seen several times throughout the text, and it is also pointed out in the end where she says “We must start facing […] the impact that computers are having on ourselves and our children” (p. 50. Ll. 38-39). The headline indicates that the intended receivers are families with children, but the above-mentioned examples underline that the actual receiver is everyone who uses social media. Susan Greenfield’s intention is to persuade us, and she does this by using plenty of pathos, but there are a few examples of logos and ethos too. Examples of logos could be when she refers to an Ofcom study and backs up her
“How Facebook addiction is damaging your child’s brain”
You have one, I have one, and 1,5 billion other people have an account on Facebook. The number of members is increasing and so is the power of social media. Due to this development, Susan Greenfield delivered the lecture “How Facebook addiction is damaging your child’s brain” at the Woman of the Year lecture in 2009.
Greenfield is against Facebook and claims that the social media affect our children in a negative way. Therefore, she wants to protect the young from this development and introduces us to four possible changes in the young 21st-century mind: Lack of social skills, the idea that actions do not have consequences, lack of empathy, and confusion around identity. She predicts this as a plausible future if we do not take the issue of computers seriously. But is the development really this bad?
Greenfield begins her lecture by asking, “Can you imagine a world without long-term relationships?” (p. 47 ll. 1-2) which is a strange beginning if you consider the fact that the text is about Facebook’s impact on children. It seems a bit exaggerated, but nevertheless, she keeps on focusing on a future she cannot predict throughout the lecture. By beginning her lecture this way she appeals to the grown-ups in general instead of focusing on families with children. This is seen several times throughout the text, and it is also pointed out in the end where she says “We must start facing […] the impact that computers are having on ourselves and our children” (p. 50. Ll. 38-39). The headline indicates that the intended receivers are families with children, but the above-mentioned examples underline that the actual receiver is everyone who uses social media. Susan Greenfield’s intention is to persuade us, and she does this by using plenty of pathos, but there are a few examples of logos and ethos too. Examples of logos could be when she refers to an Ofcom study and backs up her