Thompson

Frequent text message users, social media advocates, and opinionated bloggers all write about various topics, but how does that compare to classic writing? Clive Thompson, author of Smarter Than You Think, continuously supports his mark that the Internet, regardless of its credibility, is progressively transforming today’s way of writing, allowing society to write more effectively and for longer lengths. Based on Thompson’s claims he makes in “Public Thinking”, it is apparent that appeals to logos, collaboration, and audience have helped immensely to express his argument of how technology is impacting modern writing and our society as a whole. Throughout the chapter, Thompson supplies an assortment of facts that gain the readers credibility towards his opinion that technology is indeed benefiting our society’s writing skills. He points out “Before the Internet came along, most people rarely wrote anything at all for pleasure or intellectual satisfaction after graduation from high school or college” (Thompson 48). Thompson bases this fact to affirm his entire appeal to the logos strategy in this chapter. By either supporting the Internet with the ability to freely share opinions and ideas or simply state further facts on how the Internet has improved our writing skills, it is a win-win strategy to gain the readers trust. Thompson continues on to support his claim by stating additional facts regarding the Internet and writing comparing the amount of emails, tweets, and blog posts that society produces everyday. “Each day, we compose 154 billion e-mails, more than 500 million tweets on Twitter, and over 1 million blog posts (Thompson 48-49). Thompson hardly touches on the negatives that the Internet has brought society, but does go on to state in the words of Theodore Sturgeon, “Ninety percent of everything is crap,” in which he applies to the facts prior. Furthermore clarifying that only ten percent of the 154 billion e-mails, 500 million tweets, and 1 million blog