The Binge Breaker

8 Questions: The Binge Breaker

1) Some questions that the text addressed are, "How can we improve our lives through technology?" and "How do social sites pull us in?" These are two of the most significant questions through out the article because technology in our daily lives is becoming more and more addictive and setting us up for failure. Anyone who reads this article can agree with Harris that we have an issue with always wanting to be connected through our cell phones. 

2) The intended audience is anyone who owns technology or who is affected by technology on a daily basis. I feel that I am apart of the audience because I am always getting distracted by my phone when I am in conversation with people or working on classwork.

3) Bosker helps support Harris' argument by using a multitude of facts and statistics. The continued mentioning of all of the individuals who support his argument and their validations convinced me that this was a very logical argument. I also feel that his background as a psychologist helped to move his argument even more. He knows how individuals react to certain things placed in front of them and made this very clear to the reader throughout the text. There was also a counterargument that Harris brought up made by a man named Nir Eyal that mentioned, “With every new technology, the older generation says ‘Kids these days are using too much of this and too much of that and it’s melting their brains.’ And it turns out that what we’ve always done is to adapt.” By bringing up this counter argument from another credible source, Harris shows the reader that he does understand there is another side to the story, but he also has the information to disprove it.

4) Bosker hooks the audience by starting with an anecdote about following Harris to a convention where individual were to detox from their electronics and have one on one conversation and interaction with each other. By using this anecdote not only does Bosker let the reader see that Harris is just like them, but it brings the topic to the attention of the reader that there have to be conventions held to get individuals off of their phones. I feel that this form of hooking the reader in is the most successful for this article and it does not make me suspicious of the information that is going to be presented throughout the article. The reader also stays hooked throughout the article because Harris does not touch on one topic for too long. It is an easy read that is very informative and anyone who reads it can relate to what it is saying.

5) Harris makes himself seem credible to the audience by using his prior experience with Psychology, the people he has met and talked to and his tremendous amount of research on the topic known to the reader. From the very beginning of the article it is mentioned by Bosker that individuals would come up to Harris wanting to speak about him because of his credibility and the ideas he has made known to people about the advancements of technology in our society. I feel that this is a very reliable source and that Harris is a credible individual. 

6) Harris' values and believes are the same as my own. As I was reading the article, I started to agree more and more with what he was saying and the facts that were presented. Not only did it impact that way I felt when reading the article, but it left me thinking about times when I myself had acted in the way he was describing when surrounded by technology. You can also see Harris's beliefs through his discontinued work with Google because they did not want to hear what he had to say or the information he was providing to them about the way technology is affecting us.

7) In responding to the text, I will go along with what Harris is saying. I do agree that we as a society depend on technology too much, and instead of it helping us it is disconnecting us from the real world and other people around us. Being surrounded by technology, it has become a normal thing to always see people on their phones when out with friend, but this text has made me aware of the situation at hand and some ways that I can help to stop it. 

8) Boskers purpose for writing fits my purpose for reading because not only is this course about how technology impacts our lives, but analyzing the information presented will help me when coming up with my own argument or agreeing with what Harris thinks. I also agree with everything Harris is saying throughout the article which will help when I go to write my rhetorical analysis because I will be able to use phrases from the text to back up my thoughts. I will also use what I have learned throughout my daily life and the next time I think about picking my phone up when I could be talking to someone instead.