Introduction of Public Thinking Essay

How often do you write a day? How much of that is formal writing for school or your occupation? And how much of that is just for your pleasure? Do you know how writing affect you and your emotions? Clive Thompson is a writer for New York Time Magazine and columnist for Wired. He has made himself a very outstanding and prominent writer throughout the years. The amount of research, experiments, and publishing he has done has allowed him to prove himself with many different arguments to his readers. With all his experience, he has made a trustworthy name for himself; consequently, readers are more likely to be persuaded by all his writings. In the same way, he has made a consistence list of readers. In other words, readers are more likely to read more of his other writings after reading one. In one of his books Smarter Than you Think: How Technology is Changing Our Minds for the Better, there’s a chapter that he dedicates to public thinking. People categorize public thinking as many different things; such as social media, debate, group collaboration, sharing and discussing. Thompson was worried our civilization was going to plunge because of the internet. He thought that internet was influencing our society negatively. Many years later, he realized that the internet has a positive impact on our society because people are able to express themselves and their thoughts. The purpose of the chapter on public thinking in his book is to argue that social media and the internet are improving society’s writing skills; how we present our ideas and arguments, and contribution of thoughts. Thompson wants to persuade his readers to believe that the internet has helped our society and he does this using many different strategies.

In my analysis of Thompson’s text, I will examine the strengths and weaknesses of the evidence he uses for his claims. I will show what types of evidence were very effected and persuading to reader. Another thing I will point out in my evaluation is when Thompson wasn’t very clear or strong with his claims. In addition, I will mention the types of strategies Thompson uses that are a big indicator of triggering the audience to believe his side of the argument.