For Tuesday: Marche, "Is Facebook Making Us Lonely?" (handout)

 

NOTE: If you missed Thursday's class, I will leave a few copies of the essay in the box on my door (HM 348). Please pick one up if you would like to read it in hard copy form. There is a link to the article on-line, but it might not work for everyone, so don't rely on it: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/05/is-facebook-making-us-lonely/308930/

For Tuesday's class, read the article and answer any TWO of the following question in a short response--at least a few sentences, and try to give me a personal response rather than an answer. By that I mean, tell me what you think, and not just what you think the 'right' answer is (because there isn't one). 

VOCABULARY (a few words you might try to define in the essay--we'll discuss them in class): alienation, encapsulates, neuroticism, confidant, autonomy, irrelevance, phenomenon, labyrinth, "correlation is not causation," integration, gaucherie, Luddite, narcissism, stoic

Answer TWO of the following...

Q1: This is an older article from 2012, so we're now in the 'future' of this article. The author claims that Facebook tends to make us "broader but shallower" (289). Do you agree with him? Has Facebook continued to do this in the 10+ years since this article has been written? And what about other forms of social media more popular today? Are they all making us increasingly lonely...or has a reverse trend occurred in one of these forms (Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, etc.)? 

Q2: Marche claims in the article that the problem isn't just with Facebook (or that Facebook isn't the chief cause of our loneliness). Rather, he states that "We are lonely because we want to be lonely. We have made ourselves lonely" (293). What do you think he means by this? What examples does he use in the essay to support this strange claim? 

Q3: The author claims that one of the advantages of Facebook (and social media in general) is "smooth sociability" (298). What does he mean by this phrase, and have you experienced this yourself? What might be the downside of this kind of socializing: meeting people without having to break the ice, so to speak? 

Q4: The essay opens not with a thesis statement or any discussion of Facebook at all, but with a kid of obituary of a formerly famous Hollywood actress. What is the significance of this Introduction, and why does it serve as a kind of 'thesis' all on its own? How does it begin to make sense the more we read of the essay? 

Welcome to the Course!

Welcome to the Course! In this section of Freshman Composition 2, we'll work on making you a more confident reader AND writer through a loose theme of 'science fact and fiction,' which will help you explore many of the BIG conversations of the 21st century. Even if you don't care about space, aliens, superheroes, or robots, this class is really about US, and our moment in time right now. Thinking about the future is always a way to look at the present, and better understand the past, since we're never "in" the future--it's always the present. That's what makes stories about the worlds to come so interesting. They're always speculative, meaning they're always a way to ask "what if," or maybe, "why did this happen?" The essays, stories, and books in this class are designed to make you question yourself and your society, and become a better reader and writer in the process. 

BE SURE TO BUY THE TWO BOOKS FOR THE COURSE! They should be in the bookstore by now, and are both pretty cheap. I'll also give you several handouts/links of readings throughout the semester, but these books are mandatory reading for the class. 

Guiding Quote for the Class: “It is called the Overview Effect. It’s not a single epiphany, but rather a series of them, all triggered by the simple act of staring at the world from space…The orbital view is harsh and matter-of-fact. There is beauty below, but humans are everywhere, their cities and suburbs filling the most livable spaces, the indelible signs of industry stitched across the others. This is your final epiphany: It’s not a big world at all. It’s smaller than you can possibly describe” (Sofge, “The Early Adopter’s Guide to Space Travel”).