Analysis Of " How Facebook Ruins Friendships"

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An Argument Analysis of “How Facebook Ruins Friendships” In August 2009 Elizabeth Bernstein wrote an article called “How Facebook Ruins Friendships” for the Wall Street Journal. She mentions in the article that social network help people got back in touch with friends from childhood and help them become better acquainted. In contrast, she states, “Here’s where you and I went wrong: We took our friendship online.” She believes that social networking is ruining friendships rather than making friendship closer. Bernstein’s argument also claims that “the problem is much greater than which tools we use to communicate. It’s what we are actually saying that’s really mucking up our relationships.” At first brief look, Bernstein’s argument is effective because she gives good examples that support her argument and most people can empathize with. Also, she supports her argument by adding tricks and tips to helps readers improve their interactions on Facebook. However, when I read her article in depth, I found that her argument is weak because she did not study data as statistics, she use some examples that are not related to the main idea ,and she ignores certain age groups that use Facebook the most. Elizabeth Bernstein uses logic effectively by giving good details and examples that most people can relate to, which also support her argument. She was able to reach out to the audience and use the audience’s emotion by using common examples that people faced every day on status updates such as food, daily life, and love life. In addition, she is able to gives many perspectives of people who find Facebook to be annoying, which makes her argument more effective. She also uses criticisms of how the internet communication tool lacks the nuances that can be expressed by body language and voice inflection by quoting Patricia Wallace, a psychologist at Johns Hopkins University’s
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