Anna Gospodarek

April 9th, 2022

English 101, Tuesday- Thursday, 9:30 am-10:45 am

University of Wisconsin, Whitewater

“Connected or Chained?”

The internet is a versatile machine, that's been constantly pumping out an endless

amount of information since the early 90s. With this constant stream of new and exciting

things happening on the web, it’s only natural that people would turn to it to explore its

endless wonders. Strangers would gather on open forums and chat for hours discussing a

variety of topics from sharing recipes, to discussing space exploration and even making

new friendships. What was once simply a dream had become a reality. It was a golden

age, but the scope of the internet was still small compared to what it is now. Like

anything in life, the internet was changing rapidly, it was turning into a massive beast,

and posting online became much more complicated. Gone were the days of posting onto

small discussion forums, free to leave whenever you pleased. Now you have the entire

world watching your every move no matter how mundane it might be. Life on the web

became intertwined with life in the real world and at some point, they became the same

thing. The internet had become synonymous with our individual identity, and according

to Jia Tolentino “we were now chained to ourselves online, and this made us

self-conscious.” The issue, however, is not with how these various websites function, but

rather the people we’ve become through using it in the attempt to appear our best selves

to strangers on the internet.

“The I in the internet” is an online article written by Jia Tolentino that mainly focuses on

how rapidly the internet has shifted in the past decade. Using her own experience with

“Web 1.0” as she calls it, Tolentino creates a narrative storyline that begins with her very

first post online up until today. She presents the idea that we’ve become so intertwined

with the internet that we’ve handed over our individual freedom and have willingly

chained ourselves to the internet for the sake of feeling included, which in turn creates a

seemingly endless cycle where we now feel more insecure. Tolentino goes on to point out

several other common flaws that people present on the internet, ones that rarely anyone is

immune to. She references “virtue signaling” which in summary is the practice of

publicly expressing opinions with the purpose to show how good your character is by

saying these things out loud. But in reality, this action is a small one in the grand scheme

of things and all it really serves to do is to make you look better online. Tolentino seeks

to give readers a reality check and inform us that no one is immune to these things

despite the “holier than thou” approach that many people attempt to take. In doing this

Tolentino also takes a few jabs at this mindset of internet dwellers. She draws attention to

this by stating “ You don’t end up using a news story about a dead toddler as a peg for

white entitlement without a society in which the discourse of righteousness occupies far

more public attention than the conditions that necessitate righteousness in the first place.”

It summarizes how warped our morality becomes online when we lose sight of the bigger

picture. It seems like an insane example, but using a jarring scenario is more likely to

stick with readers.

Tolentino uses informal language in order to appeal to readers, rather than

presenting this piece as if she is a step above the reader she is maintaining that she is on
the same level that we are when reading it. She makes several jabs at people putting up

appearances on the internet and reinforces that she too, has done these things. Now that

the writer and the audience are on the same page she can use her credibility as “one of

us” to make bolder statements that we are inclined to agree with. She proceeds to use

more articulate language later on in the paper. She uses more complex wording to create

the sense that we’re now getting into the meat of the paper and that it’s time to get

serious. Tolentino never uses language that is too difficult to understand, often she uses

several real-world examples to get the point across before elaborating with her own

words. In doing this it makes the paper much more palpable and easier to read in one

sitting, while also getting the most out of the article.

The usage of quotations and metaphors is also very prevalent in this paper. To

ensure credibility Tolentino uses quotes from several other reliable sources to add to her

point. By using these quotes to back up her claims, not only do they add more context to

the initial argument that Tolentino is making but it once again leads the reader to consider

this paper as a professional source of information, especially when big names like the

New York Times are named dropped. Having a well-known source even being mentioned

in the paper allows us to believe what she is saying more. Essentially she has curated a

list of very smart and credited people and has shown them to you as if to say “ look at

how smart these people are, and if they say it, it should be assumed that it’s probably

correct.” Tolentino utilizes several different metaphors and analogies to make the reading

more interesting. She also utilizes visual language to emphasize how magical the internet

appeared at first, and then slowly transitions to using more blunt language. This suggests
that the internet has become a lot less magical to us, despite using it every day. Often

times when reading sources such as these they can become dull through stiff and

superficial language, but it’s not an issue in this reading, It instead feels like having a

deep conversation with a colleague, which is ultimately more desirable than listening to

someone drone on for hours.

Credibility and engagement have been large elements in the effectiveness of this

paper, without these two things and the clever usage of quotations, metaphors, and

analogies it provides a fully introspective and analytical paper. Each point is carried

through personal experience and uses examples that anyone can relate to. Addressing

how strangely some people behave on the internet and then admitting to doing some of

the same things also allows the readers to trust the author. We are shown that this person

is trying to convince us of something that they themselves have fallen victim to as well.

By demonstrating this vulnerability we can connect with the author and allow ourselves

to take their argument more into consideration. It truly shows, that being genuine on the

internet can add to your influence and that we don’t have to remain the same “ angry

people obsessed with their own representation”