A Critical Analysis of The You Know Virtual Me, not Me

In the article, You Know Virtual Me, not Me, the author deals with the issue of whether the
social network gives a good or bad impact to people. The author states that the social
networking has changed the world for the better. But, he is also realise that social network
really give a negative impact to us as the user. Phrase such as negative effect, lead to cyber
bullying, extremely serious, probably lead to suicide, and his life is should not be taken
lightly reflect the bias language of the author on his arguments through which his tone of
concern and threatening is conveyed as he is convince and warning the social-networks users,
parents, teachers, youth, and students about the negative impact that social network can give
on a person. This also shows that the author purpose is to make the readers realise that social
network is not only give positive impact but also negative impact to people.

There are various arguments from legal authority on the impacts of social networking. The
author begins his argument about the social network based on one of the supporting details
that can be found in the article which is from an expert opinion.
Although social networking may have changed the world for better, it may also have
negative impacts on a person by Dr. Larry Rosen, an international expert in
Psychology of Technology.
At first, he states positive impacts of social networking. He claims that people really benefit
from social networking because it is one of the best communications in the world. The
benefits are:

The complexity of communicating with people from another part of the world is no

more, all because of social media.

It can made people more aware of what is going on in the other parts of the world.
Made it possible for a person to meet new people without having to actually see them

in person.
Able to develop their sense of empathy.

Having said all this, the author immediately presents a counter-argument conceding that there
are also negative effects of it. This can be proved by the expert opinion on the first paragraph
as I stated before. The counter-arguments such as:

Causing distraction among students.

Changing the way a person interacts with other people.
Causing psychological changes.

are deliberately worded so that they present it in negative light and subsequently challenged.
It is obvious that the author is biased. The author conveys his bias by presenting unfavourable
facts about social networks.
There are several strong supporting details to support authors point of view on the issue. The
supporting details are:
a) Experts opinion.
- Rosen also reported that the students who use social networking such as
Facebook, have lower grades than those who use said site less often
b) Research finding.
- A research journalist with MailOnline, UK, David Derbyshire, in his report ,
said that people who use social networking sites have the tendency to become
more narcissistic
c) Statistical data.
- According to statistics, suicide is the third leading cause of death among the
youth
The supports seems directly related to the argument, as the author draws attention to the
negative impacts of social networking. Although he is not an expert on social networking, his
examples are relevant, as he is citing from the expert in the Psychology of Technology, a
research journalist and based on the statistical data. The support is objective because the
information comes from external sources. The argument is complete because the author
considers opposing views and offers a counter-argument against them. I also can tell that the
argument is valid and credible because the supports are well reasoned and makes use of
expert opinion.

The author uses deductive reasoning in his arguments by providing premises based on general
statement. He provides strong support such as expert opinions, Dr Larry Rosen and research
finding which prove that the social networking is also give negative effect to people.
Paragraph one and three present the example of the deductive reasoning.

In summary, the author did stand that social network give us positive impacts, but mostly his
argument is directly show that social network can also give us bad effects. The author
managed to show some validity and credibility, hence his overall argument is good due to the
strong supports.

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