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Alondra Alva
Mrs.Smathers-West
ENC 1101
20 November 2015
Strong Response
A fellow student, James Gardiner the author of the article clarifies why online social
networks are being used often. Gardiner’s purpose is to reveal to young teens the statistics on the
amount of social networks being used. He creates a confidential tone to the readers that makes
his article solid through ways where he applies anecdotes and recent studies on other college
students. Although, online social network are being used more than they are supposed to, they
are used for communication and staying in touch with friends. In the feature article “How do
Online Social Networks Affect Communication?” the author, James Gardiner explains his
question which is why are online social networks (OSNs) being used and for what purposes such
as what is amusing about OSNs, what do teens get out of it. Gardiner did various researches and
overlooked several surveys to reveal how young teens use social network which affected the
argument being made which is Gardiners question, how many hours students spend time on
online social networks. In the article it states “ 91% of users logged on to keep in touch with
regularly seen friends, while 82% used sites to stay in touch with distant friends. The survey also
indicates that 49% use the sites to make new friends.” Gardiner also has another purpose for
young teen which is to demonstrate that using too much social networks can have a negative
effect which is spending too much time on OSNs. Moving through the article, Gardiner
elaborates more on the negative effect, too much social networks adjusts you to letting the time
go by, procrastination. He wraps up his article by demonstrating that his question was clearly

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answered through statistics and surveys based on other students. It elaborates his argument
through exhibiting that he used several sources that allowed his article to have credibility.
Gardiner begins his article with wanting more information about how often social
networks are used by young teens and college students and why. He addresses readers by using
common social networks such as Facebook and Myspace, which we are all familiar with. It gives
the reader a better image of what Gardiner is trying to portray, he is informative to the reader by
his word choice. Gardiner uses a word choice of “needing more in depth” it demonstrates to the
reader that he is in need of information. Throughout the article Gardiner starts developing the
answer. It states “The Pew Survey gave me a clearer picture of how and why young people are
using OSNs.” It expands into depth because Gardiner is using surveys to receive accurate
statistics. His survey were pulled off a website with a research on college students. With all the
research Gardiner did he started realizing the large amounts of young teens logged onto social
networks. According to another research in Gardiner’s article teens go into a trance, where the
time passes them without teens being aware. We can also relate to that happening often, for
instance kids in school can at least say they spend two or more hours a day on online social
networks but little do we know that it is an enormous distraction. In the article it states “One
section states that 13% of respondents reported that Internet use had interfered with their
academic work, professional performance or social lives.” Online social networks interfere with
daily lives due to the fact that time gets wasted without noticing how much time has gone by.
Gardiner moves to the overall tone which is informative to the reader but mostly directly
to teens that like spending numerous hours on social networks. Gardiner also used he used
various sources to persuade and demonstrate to the audience and readers the high percentages in
statistics. For example some sources are “U.S News & World Reports, Pew Surveys, as well as

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Academic Search Complete database.” Gardiner raised a new question that is “Why are teens so
interested in online social networks.” The reason behind it may be the reason that young teens
say connected to all the fights that happen among friends as well as staying in touch with friends.
This traces back to a previous experience, in a recent government class where the same question
was asked. Most kids answered similarly which was “To meet new people” or simply because
“they are bored.” In the article it states “One student explains how she would meet someone new
at a friend’s party that interest her and minutes later she would be in her friend’s room looking at
their Facebook profile.” At this point it is one of Gardiner’s big point as well, I mainly support
this point because of personal experience. It happens to all of us, you go to a get together and
you end up meeting someone we would like to stay in touch with. Then all of a sudden there is
no way of communication with them except through social network.
Gardiner moves to a slight disagreement on information being disclosed. It states
“Because I am a private person, I would be hesitant to put much information on a profile.”
Gardiner went into research based on how much information is put on social network. However
it made the article switch to a biased understanding. It also states “many people went from
wanting to be anonymous online to revealing a lot of personal information.” It indicates that
others think differently. This point adds a negative point because he disagrees with information
being disclosed. It gave me an insight on the different percentages of people who post personal
information, and diverge based on his opinion. Information should be provided to a certain extent,
it is what social network is used for.
Additionally, Gardiner is persuasive to the readers and young teens because his major
points are accurate. For instance, there has been a time where you ask yourself and say “Gosh I
spent so much time on social networks without noticing.” In this case Gardiner sets out a strong

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valid situation with statistics to make his point credible. More over if Gardiner has to use ethos
as his appeal, his points can be overlooked as if he were a victim of spending long periods of
time on social networks. It would tie in the part where Gardiner is hesitant to disclose
information. For instance, Gardiner can be hiding his personal experience with others statistics.
Also, he states “I was largely unaware of the specific ways that people used these OSNs or how
their communication skills were being affected by this new technology.” It indicates that
Gardiner must not be aware about the recent technology now in the future. Gardiner sums
everything up by conveying that the researches allowed him to have a better understanding. Also
his word choice and style allows the reader to understand his main points, even though his article
was based on numerous statistics Gardiner still had strong valid points. At the ending of the
article Gardiner creates a strong ending by implying that he would like to continue his research
to find out more about teens using online social networks. It states “As I continue with my
research, I am not sure what thesis I will assert for my final project. I still want to do more
research on the negative effects of OSNs.” Today young teens do spend a large amount of time
on online social networks but there is little we can do because in the future technology will only
get worst.
To conclude Gardiner did various research and looked at different surveys to determine
the reason why teens use social networks and what are the causes. Although Gardiner plans to
continue his research he hopes to answer his questions.