Bryan Potter, David Brown, Craig Carter

Editorial Challenge

An editorial is a brief argumentative essay (let’s say 3/4 - 1 full page) that appears in a newspaper or on a
news site and expresses a position on an issue.

Steps:
1. Form a group of 3 like-minded people.
2. Write an editorial in which you argue your side of an issue that affects your school or community.
Use modern syntax and usage, but apply Jefferson’s persuasive techniques and structure.
a. Your editorial MUST include:
i. The use of syllogistic logic (citing principles, laws, and/or rules and applying
them to this particular issue in order to justify your central claim or position)
ii. A clear statement of your claim/position
iii. A list of reasons that build momentum in support of your claim
iv. Appeals to emotion, logic, and authority
v. A concluding statement that follows from the argument (the call to action)
3. Upload your editorial to Schoology (located on the calendar on today’s date)
4. If you are absent on this day, you are responsible for writing YOUR OWN editorial and
uploading it to Schoology.
5. The group with the most persuasive editorial essay will receive 2 points extra credit in the
homework category.

Assign Group Member Roles:

1. Researcher (logos)- this person is frantically finding reliable information to support your group’s
claim
1. Who is the researcher? David Brown
2. Beautiful Writer (ethos) - this person is writing down your group’s ideas using Jefferson’s
structure, clear, grammatically correct sentences, and referencing your authority in your topic as
to make your audience trust you.
1. Who is the beautiful writer? Bryan Potter
3. Rhetorical Device-er (pathos) - this person is figuring out places, particularly in the introduction
and conclusion, to make the words more emotionally powerful through charged words, rhetorical
devices, references to God and justice/fairness (think of where Jefferson is most emotionally
compelling and steal his structure/word choice)
1. Who is the rhetorical device-er? Craig Carter

Topics: Circle ONE

1. Do schools need to provide more mental health services to students?
2. Does technology make us more alone, or does it bring people together?
3. Should schools ban phones in classrooms, or can they be used effectively as educational tools?
4. Is school designed more for girls than boys, or more for boys than girls?
5. Are adults helping or hurting children by pushing them to achieve?
6. How important are parent-teacher conferences?
7. ***Choose your own editorial topic:
_____________________________________________________________
 Does technology make us more alone? The answer is yes. Technology, in the age of
instant messaging, countless social media sites and apps, and computers that can be held in one’s
hand is separating the human race more and more from the beneficial face-to-face interactions of
old. It appears everywhere in modern life. Unbelievably, people use their phones to interact with
others even sitting right next to them. This activity may seem fun to the younger generations, but
the cons outweigh the pros by a surprising deficit.
For starters, texting and any other form of messaging lacks emotion. Yes, there are
emoticons and other trinkets to supplement human emotion, but it does not go much farther than
that. From my experience, many misunderstandings have occured due to the lack of emotion
conveyed over texts. The quick apologies and corrections for words or phrases said are not as
easily amended through text. This is where misunderstandings occur.
The next glaring problem is the lack of social skills developed from a life of being a
technological hermit. Hiding behind a screen all day, it is easy to say phrases that the individual
would not normally say in public or during conversation in general. Again, from my experience,
I tend to use these unsatisfactory phrases in my real conversations which leads to repetitiveness
and a feel of stupidity from the person who said the phrase. There is no thinking on the fly with
texting. You can wait for as long as you need and send the best version of your message. This
takes away from the need to quick think during conversations, thus, degrading your ability to
have smooth discussions. This can destroy confidence in a person’s ability to hold long and
fruitful conversations. This devalued confidence most likely brings about a want to text rather
than discussions in person. Thus, loneliness ensues.
Technology and social media use also can cause some to develop depression and anxiety.
Because of the addictive qualities of modern technology and media, people tend to desire the
likes, comments, and artificial rewards that come from these outlets. Therefore, when one does
not receive as many likes, comments, etc. that they expected, they tend to view themselves as
flawed or not good enough. This mindset in combination with constantly being bombarded with
unrealistic expectations can lead to a downward spiral of self-esteem issues and depression. This
is especially prevalent in young adults and children, who seek approval and validation from
others. A 2017 study by researchers from San Diego State University and Florida State
University show that adolescents that spend more time on technology tend to have high
depressive symptoms compared to those who spent more time off screen. Additional studies can
support this correlation between social media and poor mental and emotional wellbeing.
According to the study by the Melissa Hunt for the University of Pennsylvania, decreasing time
on social media for young adults (18-22) can reduce feelings of loneliness. In the study, 143
undergraduates were tasked with keeping their social media usage down to ten minutes for three
weeks. This brought about lesser levels of loneliness, depression, and anxiety coupled with a
better sense of self-regulation.
With these reasons, we can see that there is no doubt about the connection between
technology and loneliness. Excessive use of social media destroys one’s social life and persuades
the individual to keep to themselves and their followers on whatever platform they use. People
need the social skills that technology deprives them from leading to less human interaction
between people.

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2167702617723376
https://guilfordjournals.com/doi/abs/10.1521/jscp.2018.37.10.751?journalCode=jscp&