Questions from Allyn and Bacon

4. What personal interest do you have in this issue? How does the issue affect you? Why do you care about it?
The issue I chose to write about is new technology. This topic effects me first hand because my generation has a lot to do with new advances in technology and many new gadgets that have been invented. I care about this topic because it affects not only me but many other young adults as well. New technology such as the internet can be a very useful tool but there always comes some bad with the good. While having a Facebook, email, and a blog can be helpful, it can also be risky. Almost anyone can access these certain sites that may have specific information about you. Also if you are trying to get a job, the employer may not hire you because they looked at your Facebook or typed your name in Google and saw unprofessional images.

6. Imagine all the counterarguments your audience might make. Summarize the main arguments against your position and then freewrite your response to each of the counterarguments. What are the flaws in the alternative points of view?The first argument against my position would be the fact that texting and emailing can cause miscommunication between people and make relationships less personal. This argument is true in some ways because you are not forced to talk face to face to people. If you are shy all you have to do is send a text if you want to talk someone which defeats the purpose of trying to get to know someone. This may cause social issues. A person may also misread an email or a text causing controversy in a relationship. Although these things may be true, texting and email can also be very effective. These two technology devices can be very convenient when you need to send an urgent message or get a hold of someone quickly. There are both pros and cons to this argument. The second argument against my position would be that texting causes people to lose English skills. When people text they usually use a lot of slang or abbreviations which could cause the English language in general to suffer. Also people don’t usually type out full sentences with correct punctuation which would make you lose a lot of writing skills. The flaws in this argument would be that the amount of texting and email couldn’t possibly affect writing and English skills you have acquired your entire life. You couldn’t possibly forget a significant amount of English skills just by using new technology.

8. Why is this an important issue? What are the broader implications and consequences? What other issues does it relate to?
This is an important issue because technology affects millions of people in our society today. Because information is so easy to access on the internet you have to worry about the credibility of the sources. The information may seem accurate but it in reality anyone can make a website and post information whether it is true or false. This is a major issue in college. Students have to make sure their resources are credible by using internet tools and programs set up to find reliable sources. Students are not able to just use Google and other similar search engines as resources. I think that this is very important because you shouldn’t believe everything you read on the internet and by using these resource tools it helps you to filter out the false information.