An author’s main purpose of writing is for their audience to receive the message they are trying to convey. Our job as the reader is to interpret the channels that are being used to help get the authors point across. Sreedhar Potarazu, uses several different tactics throughout his article “Is Social Media Ruining Our Kids?”. In this article, he brings to our attention the growing negative effects of today’s youth frequently using social media. Potarazu uses ethos, pathos, and logos to help connect with all readers despite their own opinions on the subject.
The article’s overall message is that today’s teens are facing a lot of added pressures through social media. Within the reading you will find the percentages …show more content…
From the start, Portarazu tries to find a common ground with the reader. He comes out and says he once was the unpopular kid. Right away, whether the reader was unpopular growing up or not, we are able to make a connection that typically the unpopular students deal with a fair amount of bullying. The article speaks on how social media has caused an increase in depression and anxiety cases, both of which could also be an outcome of bullying. With that being stated, the reader should easily be able to infer that the writer has most likely dealt with some sort of depression, the same issue that today’s teens are facing. Portarazu mentions that he was the unpopular kid growing up and his experiences as a child led him to write this article. The reader may take from this that the author has dealt with bullying in the past, but that he has learned a thing or two and is now capable as a parent of sharing ways to prevent kids from going through the same situations. Now that he has revealed his past, the audience should feel more confident in the author’s thoughts and …show more content…
Portarazu has not only brought to our attention the problems, but he has also brought some solutions to the problems. Portarazu appeals to logos using the solutions he presents. He placed the solutions toward the end of the article. The order of this article has a very logical approach. Potarazu starts out with the problems in today’s teens, then goes into detail about the effects, and then finishes with some solutions. On another note, he could simply state that social media is ruining our children, but then it would just come across as an opinion more less. However, him using the statistics puts a logical reasoning behind his argument. The data reveals the unfortunate effects on today youth due to higher volumes of social media usage, and, logically, he retaliates with ways that parents can prevent these