Is our online life—our Twitter debates, our Facebook relationship status, our Snapchat streaks, our Zoom classes—real? And why does this question matter? Jordan Frith, the Pearce Professor of Professional Communication at Clemson University, argues in his July 2020 article that our digital life is very much real, despite common metaphors used in popular culture. The way we talk about our digital life, as if it’s separate, ends up diminishing the importance of what people do and say online, though the consequences are no less important.
- Frith explains his “they say” and “I say” arguments in the first three paragraphs of his essay. What “standard views” and “popular metaphors” about digital life does Frith respond to? Where did these views and metaphors come from? Does Frith agree or disagree with using language that creates “a separation of the digital and physical?” Why?
- One of Frith’s key examples is the phrase “in real life.” Who uses this phrase, and what does it mean, according to Frith? Frith argues that when people label their face-to-face interactions as “real” (and, in contrast, their digital interactions as “not real”), it “lessens the importance of the online with significant consequences.” Explain these consequences, which he details in paragraphs 10 and 11. What do you think? Do you consider what you and others do online as less “real” than what you do face-to-face? Why or why not? Give an example to support your response.
- Frith uses metacommentary and the first person (“I”) throughout his essay to organize his argument and clarify his claims. Where in his essay does Frith use metacommentary to give his readers a roadmap of his argument? What was your reaction as a reader to this roadmap? Quote a place where Frith uses metacommentary to clarify his argument or respond to the “so what” and “who cares” questions (such as in paragraphs 11, 13, and 14.) How did this metacommentary help you understand his argument and the significance of his claims?
- Who is Frith’s audience? How can you tell? Point to where you see clues that suggest Frith’s intended audience, such as his diction choices, how he introduces and uses sources, where he uses the first-person plural pronouns (“we”), and when he names his intended audience explicitly. If Frith were to revise his argument for an audience of high school or college students, what changes might he make? How would these changes better fit the needs, assumptions, and values of his new audience?
1. Frith explains his “they say” and “I say” arguments in the first three paragraphs of his essay. What “standard views” and “popular metaphors” about digital life does Frith respond to? Where did these views and metaphors come from? Does Frith agree or disagree with using language that creates “a separation of the digital and physical?” Why?
Firth brings up the phrases “In real life” and “cloud computing”. He explained how people separate the real world and the online, with using IRL (in real life). The views and metaphors come from people trying to separate the real life from the online life. He disagrees with the metaphors; he wants to critique them due to they can cause consequences for higher scholars. These metaphors can cause people to ignore the environmental problems that have been going on around them. Firth wants to change the ideas around those two phrases. Then I wouldn’t say he fully disagrees he just wants to change them around to be better for people to understand.
2. One of Frith’s key examples is the phrase “in real life.” Who uses this phrase, and what does it mean, according to Frith? Frith argues that when people label their face-to-face interactions as “real” (and, in contrast, their digital interactions as “not real”), it “lessens the importance of the online with significant consequences.” Explain these consequences, which he details in paragraphs 10 and 11. What do you think? Do you consider what you and others do online as less “real” than what you do face-to-face? Why or why not? Give an example to support your response.
The phrase before IRL, but is similar to that is “cyberspace”, there is a physical space and a cyberspace. A guy named Nicholas Negroponte once said, ““We will socialize in digital neighborhoods in which physical space will be irrelevant and time will play a different role” That saying really did come to light more kids and teenagers live in a digital life, they make it seem the physical space is irrelevant. Face to face is no better or less real than multiple forms of digital communication. People don’t associate their digital self with their physical self, like someone else is doing the online actions. Consequences can happen due to people acting a certain way face to face and their digital form. A rape threat through twitter is very much real, a revenge porn is very much real, meaning the people who write and do that stuff, most likely feels that way in real even if they say they don’t. Even posting a stranger is very much real. I can’t speak on others, but with myself on face to face and my digital for is very much the same, the kind of person I am, I have to be true to myself. I’m shy and nice in real life, you may not notice I’m shy at first on social media, however if you send me a text and etc you’ll most likely see that I am.
3. Frith uses metacommentary and the first person (“I”) throughout his essay to organize his argument and clarify his claims. Where in his essay does Frith use metacommentary to give his readers a roadmap of his argument? What was your reaction as a reader to this roadmap? Quote a place where Frith uses metacommentary to clarify his argument or respond to the “so what” and “who cares” questions (such as in paragraphs 11, 13, and 14.) How did this metacommentary help you understand his argument and the significance of his claims?
Firth starts his roadmap in paragraphs 2 and 3, by stating I and my. However, it mostly begins in paragraph 3. It helped me a lot understand what he tried to argue and why he needed too argue. In paragraph 11 Firth states, “I am not arguing that face-to-face communication does not have advantages (and potentially disadvantages) compared to digitally mediated communication. What I am arguing is that face-to-face is no more or less real than various forms of digitally mediated communication.” This metacommentary helped me understand that Firth was trying to argue more on the significance of face to face and digital than the advantages and disadvantages.
4. Who is Frith’s audience? How can you tell? Point to where you see clues that suggest Frith’s intended audience, such as his diction choices, how he introduces and uses sources, where he uses the first-person plural pronouns (“we”), and when he names his intended audience explicitly. If Frith were to revise his argument for an audience of high school or college students, what changes might he make? How would these changes better fit the needs, assumptions, and values of his new audience?
I believe Firth’s audience is teenagers and adults (13-30). I believe that because that age range are the people that either use technology a lot or want to change the way of the digital life, as well as teachers and scholars. Some examples of where he uses first person plural pronouns, “we encounter them all the time in our interactions with media of various types.”, “My argument is that we need to critique these phrases and push back against the separation of the digital and physical...”, “This article is a call to interrogate the seemingly mundane terms we use when we talk about online life. The fact that we create hierarchies that oppose the digital to the physical or dematerialize the digital through language is a subtle yet important framing we can push back on in our research and teaching.”, and “After all, why would we even study the digital if we did not think it was ‘real’?” Firth tells us his intended audience with this part of the article, “And as scholars and teachers of language, we can pursue advocacy to make these subtle metaphorical choices visible.” If Firth was t change to high school students he would need to talk more on the issues of using “irl” compared to the physical life, and give the students real life consequences of issues people the students ages face when they do more wrong on their digital life. It would fit their values due to it shows the high school students that the physical world is better than the digital world, and that the digital life is showing to many issues. It opens the students understanding surrounding the issues.
Posted by: Jada Del Guidice | 11/04/2020 at 08:30 AM