We constantly have a smart device in our hands and are connected to the world 24/7. This has become the reality of our current culture. As of 2017, 96% of Americans own a smartphone (Pew Research Center 2019). In my college career, I have used social media as a means to creatively work on projects and contact others for group projects. When working with a team of people it is necessary to carry a phone in order to collaborate and communicate. I have a lot to learn as technology continuously changes. My younger family members talk about newfound phone apps and computer software they use for music or gaming. The terminology is always different, and it makes me realize how quickly our world is changing.

I can think back to the days when my older siblings used myspace, AOL messaging, and other platforms. Social media is never stagnant. I remember my older brother messaging his friends on myspace when he was my age, which seamlessly was replaced by the social media giant Facebook, and so forth. What was once an online social hub became an obsolete desert the next day. As our culture changes so do our means of expressing that culture. We display our thoughts and lives online, and can openly display our thought process. For the generation raised on the internet, this has greatly affected mental health and changed the discussion.

Social media has had a large impact on our view of mental health. Statistics say that 5% of young people have a social media addiction (Edmonds 2019). Research is still being done, common factors found are difficulty relaxing after social media use, effects in school performance, and sleep loss. Anxiety is thought to increase with use. This is formally related to keeping up with social circles and is labeled “fear of missing out” or the acronym FOMO. This correlates with the overindulgent use of social media and is thought to lead to lower mood levels and life satisfaction. The more time is taken to look at the highlights of other people’s profiles, the worse those using social media tend to feel. Social media is also thought to have a link in today’s youth regarding unrealistic expectations, causing low self-esteem and poor self-image (Edmonds 2019). Still, the use of social media is something we cannot escape. We must learn to use it effectively, and in a way that allows professional communication.

The professional use of social media is being newly explored in different companies. Writing both analytically and creatively on social media can benefit a business. Smart devices are used to inform clientele and employees of what is going on within the company. Company-specific apps allow employers and employees to communicate and display accomplishments and thoughts. Even past these, we now have multiple apps to communicate in such as Twitter, Facebook, and multiple others. We are able to represent ourselves personally and professionally to friends, family, and strangers.

The way we represent ourselves has become a greater priority due to social media outlets. Knowing how to write, and write well is a way to distinguish yourself when employers look at your profiles. A study was done regarding how personal social networking sites could affect a candidate’s possibility of being hired. The study took into account both hiring sites like LinkedIn and social ones such as Facebook. Multiple behaviors are looked at through social media such as communication skills, content applying to substance abuse, bad-mouthing former colleagues or employers, and posting inappropriate photos (Betances et al. 2012). It is important to know how your online presence can affect your professional future. Learning to be aware of this is a skill to be honed in our modern age.

Technical writing encompasses many aspects of the age of the internet. Learning how to write in different media is beneficial to careers in a scientific, business, or liberal arts field.  Technology is never constant and always changing. Adapting to social media and learning to both use and balance it is in our benefit. 

Bibliography

 Pew Research Center: Internet, Science & Tech. June 2019. Demographics of Mobile Device Ownership and Adoption in the United States. Pew Research Center: Internet, Science & Tech.[accessed 2020 Feb 2]. Available from https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/fact-sheet/mobile/

Betances D, Solarczyk R, Bellows C. May 2012. Personal Social Networking: Affects on Companies Hiring Decisions. MBA Student Scholarship.[accessed 2020 Feb 1]. Available from https://scholarsarchive.jwu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1009&context=mba_student

Edmonds R. 2019. Anxiety, loneliness, and Fear of Missing Out: The impact of social media on young people’s mental health. Centre for Mental Health. [accessed 2020 Feb 2]. Available from https://www.centreformentalhealth.org.uk/blog/centre-mental-health-blog/anxiety-loneliness-fear-missing-out-social-media

I was intimidated when I read the word “impeachment” on my rhetoric syllabus. The impeachment has become the background music to my everyday life and caused plenty of uncivil discourse. Aside from the articles being read in class, there is a presence that has come with it. I see the news when I’m running at the gym, commentaries run across the bottom of the screen from CNN. As I leave in the morning and enter my home at night, I can hear my parents intently listening to the news as I prepare to sit down and study. The mentions of names like John Bolton, Hunter Biden, and Adam Schiff now own a sense of familiarity in my mind. What the impeachment has further displayed is rhetoric being used as a tactic in order to persuade citizens to a certain side of the argument.

We often see politicians with a talent for speaking a lot and well but simultaneously saying nothing. A sophist is someone who speaks well but carries logical fallacies. This term reminded me of the phrase “political actors”. While political actors is another term for a politician, the word actor implies someone performing. I’ve heard politics and acting compared on several podcasts. In not all but many cases, political actors can be modern sophists. As sophists act as a puppet for someone else’s ideals, a political actor can do the same for a political party. A political actor may use rhetoric to persuade but with baseless information.

In the article under the heading “What is crime?” It is talked about how both sides took to the media several days before the impeachment trial to display their arguments. Though this is a common practice, it made me think of the terminology used both in class and The Rhetoric Companion by N.D Wilson and Douglas Wilson. Phrases such as “hired guns”, “mercenary tongues” and “brains for hire” are used to describe sophists. When political arguments are on TV, showmanship and politics interconnect. We sit down and watch people argue on CNN or FOX, and are entertained by it. The relationship that rhetoric has with theatrics has been furthered since politics has become divisive and mainstream. It becomes a form of emotional salesmanship, using fear as a tactic to persuade. It is easy to persuade people against each other when they are convinced the opposing side is against them. Rhetoric can be sold based on showmanship over content. It becomes the presentation of the argument that is taken into account more than the actual argument itself. 

Spouting polished phrases is not only something we see in politics, but also religion. Rhetoric must have substance on a deeper level, showmanship sells an argument but substance makes it stick. “Eloquent speakers give pleasure, wise one’s salvation” a quote by Saint Augustine regarding Christian teaching. In my own personal experience growing up, I have had multiple people speak to me on the concept of faith and belief. As a ten-year-old child, I remember the ones I felt most suspicious of were the ones who spoke with grandeur and polish. I never liked feeling as though someone was trying to sell me faith like a used car. I have heard speakers use quotes such as “God wants to bless us where we are” and end it with “Hallelujah”, and acting as though they are emotionally overcome. There was never a point, just an ongoing dialogue that sounded nice to some listeners. In contrast, the ones who spoke with logic and honesty persuaded me. The ones who actively used examples from biblical figures, and applied them to our lives. Sometimes their messages made me self-aware of my own downfalls, but their arguments as to why and how to fix them stayed with me. This does not mean that speaking with eloquence is something that makes a person a sophist but speaking without substance is. In both politics and religion, the substance is what allows people to relate and understand the message they follow and the policies they vote for. 

What persuades you rhetorically reveals a lot about your nature. The term sophist leads me to want to be more self-aware of my own speaking and thought process so I avoid becoming like one. Though we are all biased to some extent, self-awareness should lead us to wanting to speak based on a firm understanding and logic on both sides of an argument. This is not only important in application to politics and the impeachment but our lives in general. We can use the concept of being a sophist in our everyday lives to evaluate ourselves in our own conversations, actions, and thought process. This in turn makes us not only better speakers but better people. By being rhetorically competent we learn to disagree while still being agreeable.