TOW #26 - Head in the (Instagrammed) Clouds

Isabel Evans writes, “Head in the (Instagrammed) Cloud” to discuss social media, particularly instagram and how it affects the life of a young adult. The author is a student at Harvard who admits to being “guilty of everything [she has] mentioned.” Evans writes the text for students at Harvard. Evans made a few comments relating to life at Harvard, such as studying for finals in the Harvard library or boring Harvard Friday nights. However this could apply to any young adult who uses social media. The text was written to address our dependence on social media as social media is a rapidly growing part of society.

To establish her argument, Evans uses first person point of view and allusions. She says, “Most of the time when I’m staring and scrolling, I’m not engaged in any kind of socially productive exercise.” She uses first person point of view to establish ethos. Through her perspective she can explain that she too is affected by social media and can waste an hour on her phone doing practically nothing. This helps the audience agree with her more, but also shows that she knows what she is talking about because she too experienced it.

She also uses allusions to real world events. She says, “So often sites like Twitter and Reddit offer news quicker and more concisely when stories are just breaking. When the lockdown hit our campus after the Boston bombing, I was constantly checking my different feeds rather than relying on the slower CNN.” By having a real event and explaining how social media spread the word, she shows that social media does serve an important part of society and it can help get the word out about big events.

Evans writes this essay to explain that, “it’s important to remember that we should have accomplishments we can really see and touch, not just ones on a touchscreen.” She wants to reach out to students at Harvard and remind them to focus on their real lives and not their instagram life. I think she did accomplish her purpose. She used rhetorical devices well to explain that social media is not a bad thing; she did not attack social media. Instead she said that it’s a good idea to pay attention to one’s life outside of their phone. I think that through her examples and experiences she argues her point well.