NAME: Saivarshini Ravichandran MGC 461

Notes for Discussion

TED Talk: Cal Newport’s Why You Should Quit Social Media

Beginning

 Did he start with a broad summary?

Cal Newport started with how social media only began when he was in sophomore year in his
college and how later in the years' everyone was hooked on it. He didn’t bother to sign up as he
sensed it was dangerous. His main motive in the speech was to persuade people to quit social
media like him.

 How did he make his central point in the introduction?

He conveyed his central point by talking about his goal through the ted talk: How his
professional life would be successful without social media, and he wants to persuade more
people to quit social media.

Middle

 How did he arrange ideas into related groups?

He arranged his ideas into three frequent objections he hears from people when he tells them
to quit social media.
1. Social media is fundamental in the 21st century. Rejecting social media is an extreme act.
2. Social media is vital to success in the 21st-century economy. If there is no well-cultivated
social brand, people will not be able to find each other.
3. Social media is harmless, and people have fun using it.

 How did he provide supporting evidence?

He gives the following counterarguments to each of the objections.

1. Social media is not a fundamental technology. It leverages the use of specific
technologies. He considers it as a mere source of entertainment. He quotes technologist
Jaron Lanier’s statement, “Social media companies offer people shiny treats in return for
minutes of attention and bytes of personal data which can then be sold”. He also talks
about how many social media companies hire attention engineers who borrow
principles from Las Vegas casinos to get people hooked on social media. The primary use
case of this product is to make it as addictive as possible for people to maximise profit.
2. He talks about his book, which draws on multiple different strands of evidence about
what the market values are, and the ability to produce things that are rare and valuable.
He argues that social media does something repetitive, and any six-year-old with a
NAME: Saivarshini Ravichandran MGC 461

smartphone can do it. The market is instead going to reward the deep, concentrated
work required like a craftsman who is rare and valuable.
3. Social media is far from harmless. It brings out multiple, well-documented and
significant harms. Firstly, social media deteriorates one’s attention span such that one
fragments attention as much as possible. This can, in turn, permanently reduce the
capacity for concentration. There are also psychological harms where frequent use of
social media leads to feeling lonely and leading to depression and anxiety.

End

 Did he re-emphasize key support and repeat the central point?

Yes, he did. He kept focusing on the central point of how bad social media is.
Throughout the lecture, he provides examples of how it is detrimental to people.

 How did he end his speech?

He ends his speech by talking about the afterlife of quitting social media. It’s very similar to a
withdrawal syndrome where the first few days are complex, but after that, it gets more
peaceful and productive.

Do you agree with what the speaker said here? If not, can you provide counter-arguments?

I partially agree with the speaker here.

 Counter-argument Point 1:_________________________________________________

Data/Fact:

 Counter-argument Point 2:_________________________________________________

Data/Fact:

 Counter-argument Point 3: Social media can prove to be a boon when used effectively
with time constraints.
Data/Fact: Many people learn through social media and gain popularity through it,
especially for marketing. Social media influencers have become popular in recent times.
NAME: Saivarshini Ravichandran MGC 461

How would rate this speech on a scale of 1 – 10? ___8_____

Is this speech persuasive enough? Why or why not? Please justify your rating.

The speech is persuasive. It has elements like ethos where the speaker establishes credibility by
stating that he is a computer scientist, and he has written several books about being productive
and is also not in any form of social media. He also gives logical facts to support his statement
which constitutes logos. But the speech is missing the element of Pathos where he doesn’t
invoke any emotion here to drive the crowd. He could have talked about how social media
affected his friends/family in a way people will be able to relate to and get more convinced.