Rough Draft Microtheme #1

Turcich 1 

Lindsey Turcich

Dr. Kyburz

CW2

September 23, 2015 

True Life: I’m Addicted to Social Media

            Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat are just a few apps to name a few, that capture the attention, time, and involvement of millions of people everyday, including myself. Whether you have social media accounts or not, you definitely know of them, and are surrounded by them daily. In our society, you can not walk down a street, eat at a restaurant, go to a public event, shop, be in class, or drive a car without someone using a cell phone, tablet, or laptop connecting with the world around them. Why are people so addicted to a screen? 

            First, social media allows many people to communicate, interact, and share information, photos, opinions, and live moments with one another, which many people enjoy and consider a major “positive” of this addiction. It is an easy way to pass time, sometimes too much time, when scrolling endlessly through the newsfeeds we have. You can find out so much information through the use of our fingers, instantly, which makes us feel in control and powerful.  

            Another reason social media is addicting because it gives the user a self-esteem boost, perhaps even a broadening of their ego. Likes, favorites, retweets, a share, a comment, can mean more to the individual than what they realistically are meant to be. As humans, we crave attention, and that is exactly what social media gives users, exposure.           

Turcich 2 

            For me, I believe I am addicted to social media to stay updated with my friends, family, and favorite celebs across the country. I have FOMO, or fear of missing out, and by having social media I feel connected to those I care about. I like to express myself through my pictures, tweets, and shares in Facebook if I believe or agree with something I want others to see. This addiction can sometimes be time consuming, like when one should be studying for a test or interacting with friends while out, and are on their phones instead. I think with good social media usage though, it can be effective, positive, and a fun way of expressing my followers and myself. 

"The Science Behind Your Social Media Addiction." Shape Magazine. Web. 24 Sept. 2015.

Micro theme Draft Copy #3

Turcich 1 

Lindsey Turcich

Dr. Kyburz

CW2

September 23, 2015 

True Life: I’m Addicted to Social Media

            Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat are just a few apps to name a few, that capture the attention and involvement of millions of people everyday, including myself. Whether you have social media accounts or not, you definitely know of them, and are surrounded by them daily. In our society, you can not walk down a street, eat at a restaurant, be at a public event, shop, be in class, or drive a car without someone using a cell phone, tablet, or laptop connecting with the world around them. Why are people so addicted to a screen? 

            First, social media allows many people to communicate, interact, and share information, photos, opinions, and live moments with one another, which many people enjoy and consider a major “positive” of this addiction. It is an easy way to pass time, sometimes too much time, when scrolling endlessly through the newsfeeds we have. You can find out so much information through the use of our fingers, instantly, which makes us feel in control.  

            Another reason social media is addicting because it gives the user a self-esteem boost, perhaps even a broadening of their ego. Likes, favorites, retweets, a share, a comment, can mean more to an individual than what they realistically are meant to be. As humans, we crave attention, and that is exactly what social media gives users, exposure. 

            For me, I am addicted to stay connected with my friends, family, and favorite celebs across the country. You could say I have FOMO, or fear of missing out, and social media allows

Turcich 2 

me to stay connected to those I care about. I like to express myself through pictures, tweets, and shares in Facebook that I want others to see. This addiction can sometimes be time consuming, but I think with good social media usage though, it can be effective, positive, and a fun way of expressing oneself.

Micro theme (before final revision)

Final Rough Draft of Microtheme 10/12/15 

Turcich 1 

Lindsey Turcich

Dr. Kyburz

CW2

September 23, 2015 

True Life: I’m Addicted to Social Media

            I use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat apps which all capture the attention and involvement of millions of people everyday, including myself. Whether you have social media accounts or not, you definitely know of them, and are surrounded by them daily. Everywhere you look, someone is using a cell phone, tablet, or laptop connecting with the outside world. Why are people so addicted to a screen? 

            First, social media allows many people to communicate, interact, and share information, photos, opinions, and live moments with one another, which many people enjoy and consider a major “positive” of this addiction. It is an easy way to pass time, sometimes too much time, when scrolling endlessly through the newsfeeds we have. You can find out so much information through the use of our fingers, instantly, which makes us feel in control. Also, social media is addicting because it gives the user a self-esteem boost, perhaps even a broadening of their ego when they receive likes, favorites, retweets, a share, or a comment. This can mean more to an individual since as humans, we crave attention, and that is exactly what social media gives users, exposure. 

            Another reason screens are so addictive is because it allows people to stay connected with friends, family, and favorite celebs across the country. This addiction can sometimes be time consuming, but if we could control social media usage though, it can be an effective, positive, and a fun way of expressing oneself.

Final Microtheme

Final Draft of Microtheme 

Lindsey Turcich

Dr. Kyburz

College Writing 2 

October 14, 2015 

True Life: I’m Attached to Social Media

            I use various types of social media a lot. I feel as though I can’t live without them. I know many of my friends feel the same way. Why do we feel so attached to social media? 

            One possible reason people are so attached to social media is the ability to communicate, interact, share photos, opinions, and live moments with one another which makes it an easy way to pass time when scrolling endlessly through numerous newsfeeds. Social media allows us to stay connected with friends, family, celebs, and political leaders across the world. Another possible reason many people are so attached to social media is the instant, accessible ways of information at our fingertips without having to do much work to find articles, news, and updates, which make the user feel in control. Another potential cause many people are so attached to social media is the ability to “check out” in a social setting by avoiding conversation and eye contact. By using social media on your device, you are able to distant yourself from the world around you, sending a silent message of not wanting to be disturbed. 

            If we could increase our awareness towards the usage of social media, many people would realize that social media is often helpful in relying news and communicating with people. By understanding the effectiveness of social media, maybe being so attached isn’t so bad.

Rational Argument Assignment

I have decided to focus my next paper on the use of technology in public settings and how communication is affecting our social interactions, our everyday productivity, and our lack of an attention span without a device in hand. This topic seems to fit our class theme "Slacktivism" very well, as most of us participate in this daily, almost hourly. According to writer Adele Peters from Co.exist, the average American spends about 11 hours everyday on a device. This is almost half of our day, which astonishes me. I don't know how fixable this problem is, or is it even seen as a problem? Many would argue that they are on their devices for school, work, or information related reasons, which may be true. But, many of us can also say social media plays a huge role in those hours. I plan on discussing both the positive and negatives of this topic, and how some steps could be made to reduce the constant need of our devices on our hand. Many can't eat a meal with family or friends, without answering a text or checking the newest Tweets. The saddest and most frustrating thing about this topic to me is texting/being on your phone while driving. This is dangerous, distracting, and can definitely wait until a stop light, or you've reached your destination. Technology without a doubt has many positive effects, but also can cause many issues socially and personally when screens "takeover".

What I want to focus also on my paper is the use of all the apps we use and how this effects our opinions of certain things, but also can educate and inspire us in others. The internet is an easy and fast way to get creative ideas or find out new things. This is probably because an apps main goal is to maximize our time on our devices. Many times when scrolling through a newsfeed, I see an advertisement or another article, that makes me want to spend more time, checking the next thing that pops up. I am looking forward to this paper and to see where I can take it.

RAD Reflection

Well, I am struggling on the concept of my topic, not finding information so far. I decided last class to switch my topic, when an idea sparked in my head while scrolling through Instagram, an app I was using 5 minutes before class started. I realized how I lost 3 followers, not knowing why and it made me think of many negative reasons. Do you they not like a picture I posted? Since we haven't talked in a while do they not care to see what I am up to? Since I don't follow you back, you unfollow me? These questions made me think of the possibilities why this happened, but also of this topic for my rational argument assignment. Why does Instagram have a meaningful effect on our self esteem and self worth? That is my question I decided to google. I was amazed at how many blogs, magazine websites, newspaper articles, and scholarly articles came up in seconds that immediately was exactly what I was looking for. So I just finished two RAD templates, but I feel I have so many things I would like to discuss, explain, argue, contrast, and compare in my paper that the only right and next step to do is draft! That way I can straighten out and explore my topic in fuller depth.

-Lindsey

Feelings on the Rational Argument Essay

12.1.15 

Wow! I can't believe there is less than two weeks left in the semester. To be honest, it feels like every semester goes by faster than the previous. I am excited for this semester to be over, especially because Christmas is right around the season.

As for College Writing 2, I have done my best throughout the semester to keep up with my work as much as possible. Today, meeting with Dr. Kyburz helped me tremendously point out my many flaws in the paper, and some positives of it. I am working on revising my paper now, trying to go back to my sources and integrate my voice better throughout the paper. I have lots to do, but feel more confident after my meeting with her today because I have that feeling now I am on the right track.

I also have many ideas for my multimodal, so am excited to start creating that!