Jurgenson’s “The IRL Fetish”

Jurgenson’s “The IRL Fetish”

Reading through Jurgenson’s piece of work “the IRL Fetish,” it is a clear reflection of our daily interaction with social media. A clear picture of the impacts of media platforms and devices such as mobile phones that help us access media is illustrated. The world has currently become a village due to the use of social media; people are so far yet so close to each other. Irrespective of distance people can communicate and socialize with each other effectively. The author creatively presents his ideas and makes it clear of what he is discussing. He can give a clear explanation, and an individual can relate the issue being discussed with something more familiar. The use of personification and metaphor perfected his work, and I was sure to use these styles in my writing so that I can emphasize my points using figurative language.

The use of personification has been fascinating in the essay. Jurgenson personifies twitter and instagram as having lips and eyes respectively. Someone who might not be able to understand these terms can easily relate their functions and importance by merely relating them to the lips and eyes. The use of this rhetoric feature helps everyone understand what discussion is all about irrespective of an individual’s age. A metaphor is another useful style that the author has used to spice it up the essay and make more sense to the readers. In the article he states that “Facebook is real life,” this statement helps me understand how meaningful our lives are with the use of Facebook and social media at large. Life is precious and can only be real if an individual is comfortable and enjoying it hence the metaphor makes Facebook a precious application that should be adopted by individuals. The use of personification and metaphor made his work amazing and was sure to use these styles in my writing so that I can emphasize my points using figurative language. The use of parenthesis is also evident in the essay, some of the information would not have made sense without additional information. Jurgenson’s first paragraph, for instance, he states “an emails are just a few taps away or pushed directly to your buzzing and chirping computer- anachronistically still called a phone.” We realize that that additional information offers clarity that the author is referring to a phone. Without these specifications, there is a possibility that a reader might think differently.

Jurgenson explains how many other writers have emphasized the importance of being offline as a way of building up relationships. He, however, criticizes them for thinking that being offline means not being online. He indicates how individuals are trading the offline for the online and state that the act of abstaining from online use is atavistic, unrealistic and silly — reading his ideas made me reflect profoundly on the impacts of social media on society as well as individuals. I realized that it was true that sometimes people do think that social media is the reason people are disconnected from each other. Face to face conversation is failing just because people are not attached. Unlike the author I had to acknowledge this fact and instead of criticizing those who are against the use of social media I had to embrace their point of view and give a solution of how the use of social media would work without interrupting offline relationships. I had to approach this part differently so that those who felt otherwise would not feel like I was overlooking on the disadvantages of using social media, I just had to make my readers, especially those who thought media use was terrible to have a second opinion about their stand and approach the issue open-mindedly.

My approach was similar to Jurgenson’s because of his argument concerning the balancing of offline and online. The online depended on the offline, and people’s frequency use of the online depended on how busy and fun, their offline life was. It would, therefore, be suicidal to think that life would be better without the use of social media like the way authors like Sherry Turkle make it sound. Just like “The IRL Fetish” author, I believed that time spending with friends dining, hiking and all other activities were more igniting with the knowledge that you could share the activities and events on platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. It is, therefore, reasonable to think that those who mourn the loss of offline are blind and do not realize the interrelationship between these two terms. In my work, I felt that it was essential to use some more rhetoric features to make my work admirable. The use of rhetoric questions would help in trying to convince those who differ with my point of view. I would ask questions like, suppose people do away with online use and embrace offline that is worshiped, how will you be able to share the good times with the world? Don’t you think it will be a boring life to lead? Such questions will allow my readers to pose and try to answer their questions and determine whether their argument is practical or sensible.

In some cases I thought using hypophora was the best approach to attract audience attention and make them curious at the same time. I would ask a question at the beginning of my paragraph and discuss it within the same section so that my ideas are clear to the reader. It is a suitable method of making people know your stand and discover your knowledge towards the issue. Whether or not social media use is essential is a controversial issue, and it will be easy to answer questions as a way of convincing readers that indeed my ideas and opinions about social media should be emulated.

Jurgenson’s writing strongly supports the use of media as opposed to some writers who think that media has corrupted the social life of people. In the first two paragraphs, we realize that he concentrates more on drawing attention and showing how society as embraced media. Friends and families are all engrossed in its use and getting much from it. He then goes ahead and makes some critiques on those who feel that media use is replacing the physical socialization. These create a clear flow of information, and it is something I had to apply to my piece of work.  We both believe that ‘online’ was useful and not mutually exclusive to offline. In my case, my parents and other older friends and family members have always felt like I am misusing social media. My mother is always complaining about how I spend most of the time on Facebook and whatssup. My father complains that social media has consumed a significant part of my time- most of which I should use to study. My parents being elderly feel that I am lost in the digital world. They complain that I overexpose my life by posting pictures on Facebook and other platforms. They believe that private life is the best way to live. Several times my grandparents criticize my mode of dressing saying that I have started embracing the dress codes I see on Television. It is okay for them to throw all sort Of insults, but what they do not understand is the fact that my good performance comes from the many studies I have made through Google. It has helped me do my research and has held boost my knowledge. Communicating with people globally has also helped me appreciate diversity. I can socialize better in school and other social places because social media has made it possible to adapt and cope.

Unlike Jurgenson who has only given examples of Facebook, and instagram, I thought it would do me better if I used as many cases as possible to illustrate my point. I chose to add Google+, LinkedIn and YouTube on my explanation for the support of social media. I cannot, however, lie that it was a walk in the park, as much as I was trying to come up with something different for my cover, I found myself illustrating the importance of media, I stated that “businesses are getting global thanks to the use of social media.” I was implying that social media is good for the business, but i could not give further explanation. Re-reading my article I felt like that statement about enhancing businesses was not well illustrated and I had to edit that part by adding explanations I had to explain how transactions are being carried out online, as well as advertising and marketing of products. It is to this realization that I used more of hypophora so I could drive my point’s home.

In his writing, Jurgenson is not afraid to condemn hypocrites. He even states “let us not pretend we are in some special, elite group with access to the pure offline, turning the real into fetish and regarding everyone else as a little less real and a little less human.” The statement is a warning to those people who still enjoy the goodness that comes with being online but still condemn people for being online. This a bold step that he takes because he is ready for critiques. Furgenson is fully responsible for what he stands for, I, however, chose to take a less provoking manner by appreciating the ideas of those who feel that people need to be completely offline but illustrating that “even though the use of social media may pose some challenges, it is not all bad.” Many advantages come with their use. We had the same point of view, and even though we argued differently in some parts, it was clear that we all thought that we should not trade the offline for the online as they were both critical and dependent of one another.

 

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