With Friends Like These

757 Words4 Pages
With Friends Like These written by Tom Hodgkinson talks about the effect that Facebook has on the consumer. Throughout his writing Hodgkinson is very much against the use of the internet because it is an imaginary world that interconnects everyone without much effort than the use of a keyboard and mouse, everything only being a click away. He also continues to emphasize that there isn’t much effort being put into communicating and networking with others in person, putting us on the verge of losing that skill. Throughout his writing the author uses a serious tone that can come across as very negative as he speaks out against not only Facebook, but other big name companies such as Paypal, Coca-Cola and Blockbuster. The use of a descriptive example such as, “A friend of mine recently told me that he spent a Saturday night at home alone on Facebook, drinking at his desk. What a gloomy image” creates the mood for the entire essay. As a consumer, many are ignorant of the negative things the author says about these big companies, but the essay is written in a way to emphasize this to the reader by captivating their attention and making them aware. His main argument is that he does not want to find an escape online and invest many hours browsing, he would much rather spend that time elsewhere towards something that is valuable of that time such as reading a good book or giving back to the community. Hodgkinson claims “Far from connecting us, Facebook actually isolates us at our work-stations. This is a strong claim and one that makes for a strong argument. Although there have been technological advances, there are some that have reduced our progress in other aspects of our lives. In this new world we no longer seek to interact in person, rather we reserve ourselves for online interactions. In order to qualify his claim Hodgkinson states that “We construct an artificial
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