Opinion and Position Writing-Free-Samples for Students-Myassignment

Question: You are required to analyse the short opinion piece "Enough with the moral panic over smartphones. The kids are all right | Catharine Lumby | Opinion | The Guardian" (Attachment 1) using the terms and ideas discussed in the readings and lectures. Answer: Language The above stated article by Catherine Lumby is an opinion piece that opposes the common global concern that smart-phones are one of the major causes of depression among teenagers. The article provides a view into the personal considerations of the author in the articles context. The author of the article uses words like I, you, we, us that makes the article essentially an opinion piece. The language used by the author is informal and personal providing a view of her own thoughts on the concern of smart-phones being a cause of depression among teenagers. Moreover, the author has made use of colloquial expressions and phrases that render the piece strictly as an opinion piece. The expressions of the author in the article can be said to be qualitative to some extent if not completely, based on her occasional use of words like may, more, many, large and likewise. The language of the article is more assertive and instructive rather than being informative. Structure The structure of the article is moderately coherent. The paragraph lengths are inconsistent. In fact, there are paragraphs that are not more than two sentences long. Hence, it can be argued that the structure of the article is informal as well. However, though there are certain areas within the article where the author tries to argue a position, most of the article is based on her views clustered in an informal structure. The author provides very little evidence for her claims. She begins the article by mentioning the article of Jean M. Twenge that presents smart-phones to be a cause of teenage depression and then goes on to demonstrating her own views trying to refute Twenges views. Finally, she concludes trying to invoke an ironically humorous tone in the end. The author mostly draws on examples and hypothetical situations even though she bases some of her views on the research she claims to have done on the relationship of teenagers with the online and social media and its effects on them in formation of their social relationships and identities. Claims The claims of the author of the article are mostly directed towards opposing the views of Twenge, a research scholar in psychology whose findings correlate teenage depression, suicidal tendencies and low self-esteem with the rise in digital evolution through smart-phones. The author claims to have done some research on the relationship of teenagers with the online and social media and the effect it has on the formation of their social relationships and identities (Lumby 2018). Moreover, the author claims that it is the universal and global custom for the adults and parents to panic every time a technological discovery emerges. Supporting her claim she states an example of the eighteenth century when people used to be concerned with young girls being corrupted for their indulgence into romantic fantasies (Lumby 2018). However, today parents practically boast of their teenage girls reading books. The author says that the teenagers are well aware of the risks that come with the social m edia such as cyber bullying and other cyber-crimes (Das and Nayak 2013). However, she mentions that social media has made it easier for teenagers to communicate. Supporting her claim she provides the statement of a young teenage boy who finds it easier to talk to people especially girls over Facebook rather in person (Lumby 2018). Moreover, depression and anxiety may be one of the effects of social and online media but there are factors that should be considered as well (Becker, Alzahabi and Hopwood 2013). Over the years, people have grown to be more aware of the mental illnesses and have been more prompt to address such problems especially in children while previously, the children and young teenagers suffered more from mental illnesses for suppressing their feelings (Whitley, Smith and Vaillancourt 2013). Social media has exposed the true nature of the society that is biased towards classes, cultures and gender (Tynes, Rose and Markoe 2013). Social media acts as a clear mirror tha t brings in front of us the real and discriminating nature of the society. The author also goes on to claim that social media has merged the public and private lives of people and that this is a result of the teenagers following on the footsteps of their parents who drink too much and later spills too many of the beans. However, the author acknowledges the ugly side of the social media as well. It is a fact that massive amounts of racism, sexism and cyber abuse functions within the social media (Dubrofsky and Wood 2014). It is a fact that teenagers must be rationally taught to find a balance and manage efficiently the smart-phones and social media. However, the change should be brought into the parents at first who equally tend to be inefficient in managing smart-phones that poses them to be hypocritical in front of their teenage children. Changes Required to Turn the Article into a Position Piece The language, structure and the nature of the article, as has been stated above, essentially make the present article and opinion piece. However, there can be made certain changes that can establish a position of the authors view within the article. The first change required is in the language. A position piece is characterized by formal language (Brick 2009). Hence, the article has to be written in third person removing the usage of words like I, you, we, me and likewise. The tone of the writing should also be more formal that requires not using colloquial expressions and phrases (Hay et al. 2012). Second, the article needs to have a more coherent structure for it to be a position piece. Third, the article must be more informative rather than instructive and assertive. Fourth and most importantly, the claims of the author require to be supported by clear and relevant premises along with strong academic evidence (Allen 2004). That is to say, for the present article to be a position p iece, the claims cannot be based on any hypothetical situation and the claims require to be supported by strong academic evidence that the author of the article under discussion has not provided. References Allen, M., 2004. Smart thinking: Skills for critical understanding and writing. Becker, M.W., Alzahabi, R. and Hopwood, C.J., 2013. Media multitasking is associated with symptoms of depression and social anxiety. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 16(2), pp.132-135. Brick, J., 2009. Academic culture: A student's guide to studying at university. Macmillan Education AU. Das, S. and Nayak, T., 2013. Impact of cyber crime: issues and challenges. International Journal of Engineering Sciences Emerging Technologies, 6(2), pp.142-153. Dubrofsky, R.E. and Wood, M.M., 2014. Posting racism and sexism: Authenticity, agency and self-reflexivity in social media. Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies, 11(3), pp.282-287. Hay, I., Bochner, D., Blacket, G. and Dungey, C., 2012. Making the grade: A guide to successful communication and study. Oxford University Press. Lumby, C., 2018.Enough with the moral panic over smartphones. The kids are all right | Catharine Lumby. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/aug/10/enough-with-the-moral-panic-over-smartphones-the-kids-are-alright [Accessed 1 Mar. 2018]. Tynes, B.M., Rose, C.A. and Markoe, S.L., 2013. Extending campus life to the Internet: Social media, discrimination, and perceptions of racial climate. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 6(2), p.102. Whitley, J., Smith, J.D. and Vaillancourt, T., 2013. Promoting mental health literacy among educators: Critical in school-based prevention and intervention. Canadian Journal of School Psychology, 28(1), pp.56-70.