USA Today Article: Scholarly Or Popular Source?

Pantic, Igor. "Online Social Networking and Mental Health." Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking, vol. 17, no. 10, Oct. 2014, pp. 652-657. EBSCOhost, DOI: 10.1089/cyber.2014.0070. Doctor Pantic in “Online Social Networking and Mental Health” discusses various studies on Facebook and symptoms of depression, social

In the article, Is Facebook Making Us Lonely by Stephen Marche, the author claims that social media makes people become lonely. Marche’s article conducted vast amounts of research to support his claim. He presented many strong points in his article about on people becoming lonely due to the effects of social media. Although this article presented data on his claim of the increasing number of people becoming isolated, this article shows irrelevant research the data doesn’t necessarily prove his statement that social media is the cause of people’s loneliness, which consequently weakens his claim. that weakens his argument because the data doesn’t proveon people becoming isolated without the use of social media. which weakens his argument.

Abrams focused on the damage social media can cause on our mental health. One study that she pointed to is by the UK Disability Charity Scope. They found that of 1500 Facebook and Twitter users “62 percent [of users] reported feeling inadequate and 60 percent reported feelings of jealousy from comparing themselves to other users” (Abrams). Another study that she also points to is one by researchers at the University of

Clarissa Silva article in the Huffington Post delves into social media’s impact on self-esteem. As a behavioral scientist, her interest in the matter relates to her field. She also gets the help of other experts Dr. Jennifer Rhodes, Natalia Lusinski, and Dr. Suzana Flores to help with her research. Silva states that “social media is linked to higher levels of loneliness, envy, anxiety, depression, narcissism and decreased social skills" (1). Then outlines her research findings using rhetorical appeals.

I found this essay to be trustworthy for two reasons. One thing that this essay deals with is accuracy, we see that it is written in 2016, making this article and the facts contained within recent and up to date. Along with being accurate, this article is well-supported. Throughout Bruinuis’ essay, there are several links to credible sources such as the RAND corporation,

In addition to the lack thereof evidence, this article is scattered as can be; making the reading experience quite confusing and unenjoyable at times. Annika Hagley’s writing style is quite abstract, at times causing seemingly choppy

The author’s purpose of writing an article can differ to major extremes depending on the type of discourse. At times the two discourse purposes can be similar, but a majority of discourses tend to lean towards a certain audience and purpose for writing. Academic discourses tend to weigh more on the informative side of persuasion than popular discourses do. The informative technique is accomplished through multiple studies, and experiments which back up the writer’s argument. Academic discourses are usually very fact heavy, and include numerous amounts of researches or studies. This amplifies the purpose for the article, and shows that the main target audience for an academic discourse is scholars, researchers, scientists, and advanced students. In contrast, a popular discourse usually falls towards the entertainment side of the persuasion spectrum. Popular news articles and discourses use only the important or interesting facts from the original article to keep the audience from getting bored. Popular discourses are mainly concerned with the audience and their opinions, rather than just the basic facts and research. The audiences that popular discourses

Fallacies found in this article are appealed to popular agreement. In this article, it states, “...

What’s more, in the article, the author shows us many other researchers and examples from the professional study prove his topic “Is Facebook making us lonely." For example, Moira Burke concludes that the effect of Facebook depends on what people bring to it. And her research does not support the assertion that Facebook creates loneliness.

Overall Bruni’s article is rather compelling, although there are clearly not enough evidence to further this article’s credibility. This could easily be resolved with the addition of more statistical evidence provided by a variety of schools at different levels of academics instead of just schools at a college level. The articles strengths shine through with its current use of statistics, even with the lack of variety. Once resolved, this article could easily appeal to a wider audience and even allow more to believe in the argument Bruni attempts to

Firstly, there have been significant links between our online presence and other aspects of our mental health, which has inspired the subject matter of many recent research studies around the world. There are many psychological and physical factors that affect our mental well-being due to the impact of social media. Depression and Body Dysmorphia being the leading causes, due to the content the individuals are exposed to while online. Even though researchers coined the correlation between social media use and depression as complex. Data was collected from a sample of 340 first year college students, and the findings were that the increase use of Facebook have been associated with higher levels of loneliness. Also the extensive use of Facebook has been associated with higher rates of disordered eating and body image insecurity.

Do you believe that “Facebook”, a social network, can make you sad? This is what Justin Mullins tries to prove in his article “Can Facebook make you sad?” which is about the satisfaction of Facebook users is it increasing or decreasing. Mullins supports that Facebook make people feel unsatisfied and that it make people feel down over time. Justin Mullins mentions statistics and personal example to prove that Facebook reduce people’s satisfaction. Despite the fact that the author fulfilled in convincing the readers with the valid argument regarding Facebook, some of these arguments are false, weak, and fallacious.

My initial response to this article is that it presents interesting information. It also brought along the question of: Who sponsored this research? As I am aware that depending on the sponsor information in studies can be skewed. I can neither agree nor reject these findings, as I do not know enough about this subject as of present.

“Information from the Internet is especially prone to error and bias because there are no controls on its publication. Consequently, we must carefully evaluate which Internet sources are credible and which are not using accepted principles of critical analysis” (Krysik & Finn, 2013, p.60). When doing research if the topic does not have enough information than it is important to move on and if the area is too broad it might need to be re-evaluated because it could take too much time to cover it all. The outcome for the researcher is spending time finding information that is credible versus not credible and not wasting time on a topic that does not fit the criteria versus the one that does.

The manner in which scientific research is presented to experts and the general public primarily differs as a result of different objectives. In Dr. Master’s article “Pain Relief Through Photography”, she investigates the capacity at which viewing a photograph of one’s significant other can reduce pain. While scientists such as Dr. Master write to effectively communicate the methods they took to conduct their research and discuss the implications of the results they found, reporters such as Ms. Rabin write to garner interest and illustrate the “highlights” of the study. Both authors employ differing rhetorical strategies, tones, and vocabulary to achieve their objectives. In Dr. Master’s article, it’s evident she is tailoring her argument for an audience with experience in her field through her use of descriptive language, specific terminology, scientific formatting. While in Rabin’s article she approaches her audience by employing a colloquial tone, punchy writing style, and providing practical applications of the research.