Rhetorical and Visual Analysis: Texting as an Addiction
Samantha Ramirez
Pathos, Logos, and Ethos are rhetorical affects used to show and appeal to different senses. By utilizing these appeals we can better analyze documents such as articles such as the article “Can teen texting become an addiction?” by Deborah Feyerick. By using the three appeals we can analyze the story and its visual to see if these two concepts coincide with each other or how affective one would be without the other.
The audience in this case could be anyone who has children who own cell phones. Particularly it would appeal towards parents that think their children might be texting at an alarming rate. Everyone watches news but when there is a story that might appeal to something you’re family might be susceptible to, more than likely you tend to watch. Having that said parents who have children that are constantly texting would really be interested in watching this segment and would be prone to showing their children this as well.
Deborah Feyerick is the interviewer and author of the article and newscast. Since news channels are agencies because provide a certain services for the community and inform the community. With this being said you can infer that Feyerick works for the agency CNN. The article would increase her credibility because she has sources that support the “texting addiction” theory as well as teens talking about their view on this topic. The argument is presented in a way that they had actually professionals and teens talking about the addictions. By going into detail about the effects that the brain shows when receiving a text the reporter is trying to evoke a sense of shock. Views are able to feel alarmed or surprised when they hear Dr.Seyffert say (Feyerick 2010): the brain produces dopamine just like a drug addicts brain would when getting high. This well supported statement from Dr. Seyffert reinforces the reports story of the addictiveness of texting which really hits the emotional side of the viewer.
The quality of the supporting evidence has its flaws in that Feyerick could have broadened her research more and found a few more sources. This article gives two main sources, the teens speaking about their personal experiences and the neurologist. After reading the article it is clear that the author is directed towards the topic of the affects of texting rather than the addiction of texting. Feyerick seems to be dawn more to the subject which really doesn’t leave much expansion or room to grow the topic from there. This article doesn’t give much evidence but the little she does give us is enough to really make you think. The lack of evidence or sources weakens the argument a bit but the alarming content of the evidence does strength the argument and is appeal to logos.
The story itself cannot fully be comprehended without the video along side. The article itself would not evoke much emotion but the video is what really evokes the true feelings of being worried for teenage safety and well being. The scale and perspective of the video play a big part in the effectiveness. Had the video been small and not placed where it was in the article, the viewers might not have been as inclined to watch it. This video being not too short or long either gets straight to the point and informative. The visual does a great job in supporting the text and better elaborating on the text. After the audience has viewed the video they can gather and analyze that it supports the argument within the article.
The video is contracted in a way that the viewers will be able to get drawn in to the story. The words are not difficult and hard for someone to try and get into the flow of the story. The visual is organized where the audience can recall the information from the text more readily during the duration of the video. The organization of it provides great reference points for the viewers to look back on. The medium used for this video would be the news website, www.CNN.com. The scale and perspective of the video would be that the video is slightly large and fixed on the top of the site.
The main focal point of the article would be the video, the texting is arranged around the video giving the illusion that the text feeds off of the video. Together the video and text complement each other well. Both the video and the text might go together well but the video itself goes more into depth. It explains more of what the sources are saying and trying to relate to the audience. In the end the video really deepens the article and gives it more meaning. The location of the video is higher up that then text and is the first thing the audience would see and be inclined to watching before actually reading. Unfortunately without the video the text would be rather dry. It would in result leave the viewers “hanging”, not fully developing the story.
Reference Page
Deborah Feyerick (2010 April 20). Can teen texting become an addiction?. Retrieved from http://amfix.blogs.cnn.com/2010/04/20/can-teen-texting-become-an-addiction/
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