Is Facebook Making Us Lonely?

Introduction

Social media, today, have revolutionized the manner in which people from different walks of life interact on a regular basis. The following critical analysis focuses on Stephen Marche's report (2012), which outlines the impact of social media on the mental and physical wellness of the public. Marche (2012) theorized that social media - Facebook and Twitter - have made people be densely networked than ever before. Nevertheless, even with all the connectivity, published researches have affirmed that people have never been lonelier or more narcissistic (Marche 1). In his report, Marche (2012) states that such loneliness has in turn made people be mentally and physically ill. The publication, is Facebook Making Us Lonely? Is a remarkable publication that affirms how social media have made people, today, to be remarkably lonely, socially disintegrated and isolated from their families, friends, and peers. In the report, Marche offers examples of real past occurrences, like the death of Yvette Vickers (a former playmate at playboy), among other examples to illustrate how social media have negatively impacted numerous people's lives.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Statement of the Author's Thesis and Personal

Social media, like Facebook and Twitter, have made people be more densely networked than ever before; yet despite all the connectivity, persons have become lonelier and narcissistic and also attracted a range of mental and physical health conditions. Marche's report has been developed on this premise as its thesis statement and it sufficiently depicts the ethos, pathos as well as logos that have governed the peripheries of composition in the report. On the ethos perspective, it is evident that society today believes that social media is a fundamental necessity of facilitating social interaction. Nevertheless, a contrary actual revelation has manifested that aggressive social media indulgence attracts loneliness at chronic levels in human socialization.

Marche's pathos depiction is the reports' development is expansively infallible as his thesis is marred with rhetoric insinuations that social media is remarkably a decent tool of social interaction and also a medium of self-destruction. The self-destruction component is marked with the rhetoric portrayal of social media as a tool that also leads to the development of mental and physical illnesses on users. Nevertheless, the logos element in Marche's statement depicts his hopes on the social media users that they should be oblivious of the dangers of excessive indulgence in Facebook and Twitter on their physical and mental well being. I support Marche's position that social media platforms have negatively impacted the physical and mental wellness of many of its unaware users and also made individuals become lonelier and narcissistic today than ever before.

Evaluation of the Rhetorical Devices Used by Marche in Supporting His Claims

Marche abundantly employs two primary rhetorical devices in the report so as to strongly support his claim that social media has made people be lonely and sick today. The device is the antanagoge which is employed by the Marche to illustrate both the pros and cons of using social media in today's contemporary society. An antanagoge is a rhetoric device that places the good and bad aspect of a phenomenon together to influence the impact of the desired meaning (McGuigan 146). In the report, Marche states that "social media has made us densely connected than ever" "yet, research has suggested that we have been lonelier than ever" (Marche 1). By using such phrases in the report, Marche strives to enlighten the audience of the publication, on the imminent dangers of overusing social media and also acknowledging its importance in the society. Such a rhetoric analysis art has made the report educational through its informative aspect on both sides of the focused topic.

Metaphors have also been abundantly used by Marche (2012) in the composition of the text to emphasize the negative impact of social media dependence on peoples' lives. In the rhetoric analysis, metaphoric art entails the description of one phenomenon by referencing it to a different thing (Ricoeur 71). Particularly, Marche (2012) strongly theorizes how the overuse of social media has developed loneliness among millions of people around the world. For instance, the sites that 20% of Americans, approximately 60 million people are unhappy with their lives because they are lonely (Marche 1). Through the use of rhetorical statements, such as "loneliness is slippery, a difficult state to define or diagnose" Marche has managed to capture the attention of the report's audience. Also, such statements have helped to illuminate the urgent need for a solution to the problem. The rich usage of metaphoric language in Marche's (2012) report has deepened the meaning of his message in reference to the loneliness suffered by numerous social platforms users around the globe.

Conclusively, Marche uses the rhetorical devices successfully, in the plot of his report and the antanagoge and metaphors enrich his arguments against the over the use of social media as a fundamental social connectivity medium. The rhetorical devices have also made the report interesting and immensely captivated the attention of publication's audience in explaining the vast side effects of social media indulgence. The capability of such devices in providing a comparison of one phenomenon to another has made it easy for readers of all ages and those of varying English proficiencies to easily comprehend the text. As such, the devices are well placed in the text and they enhance both the quality and clarity of Marche's (2012) arguments against social media overindulgence.

Hyperbole is also a rhetorical analysis device that has been employed by Marche in the report to emphasize the meaning of some of his arguments. Hyperboles are the exaggerated statements that are not meant to be taken literary by the readers of a literary art. Instead, the audience of a text must strive to understand the meaning of hyperbolic statements to comprehend the meaning being communicated by the author. Marche's use of hyperbole in his report enables the audience to understand the condition that Yvette Vickers' body was in when she was found dead in her house. Marche uses the statement "mummified body of a former playmate" to portray that Vickers' body had spider cobwebs after staying undiscovered for a long time (Marche 1).

Point of view is also a rhetorical device that has been employed by Marche to make his arguments more convincing to the audience of the report. In point of view, the author or narrator of a piece of text uses a defined narrating position to immerse the audience of the text into his/her own viewpoint of the targeted topic. In the report, Marche uses first and second person narration in singular and plural tenses when explaining how social media effects affect humanity. Examples of such narrations are represented by words such as "you" and "we" among others. Also, an example of this point of view in the report can be represented by this statement, "How often do you feel?" (Marche 1).

Litotes is also a fundamental rhetoric analysis device that has been featured by Marche (2012) in the plot of his report. Litotes are understatements that employ the denied opposite of a statement to weaken or soften the underlying meaning of the message. An example of a litote that was used in the report was the statement "...would have been 83 last August, but nobody knows how old she was when she died" (Marche 1). The statement is trying to lessen the weight of the fact that Yvette, a former celebrity, died alone at her house without anyone learning about her demise for months. Such statements engross the audience in the report and lessen the harsh reality of the truth stated by the author about his topic statement.

Conclusion

In conclusion, social media, today, has revolutionized the manner in which people from different walks of life interact on a regular basis. Nevertheless, according to Marche (2012) social media has made millions of people around the world to be miserable and develop both mental and physical health conditions. Additionally, in the report, Marche has managed to apply the rhetorical devices of antanagoge and metaphors in deepening the focus of his report that social media promote publics' loneliness. In this case, antanagoge is a rhetoric device that places the good and bad aspect of a phenomenon together to influence the impact of the desired meaning. Contrary, metaphors are phrases that explain the meaning of a phenomenon by referencing it to a different thing so that it can easily be understood by an audience. Lastly, the report also manifests instances of litotes, point of view and hyperboles in its composition.

Works Cited

Marche, Stephen. Is Facebook Making Us Lonely? 2012. <https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/05/is-facebook-making-us-lonely/308930/>.

McGuigan, Brendan. Rhetorical Devices: A Handbook and Activities for Student Writers. Clayton: Prestwick House Inc., 2011. Print.

Ricoeur, Paul. The Rule of Metaphor: The Creation of Meaning in Language. New York: Routledge, 2004. Print.