Two Views of Media and Technology

1. The objective of this assignment is to bring together what you’ve learned of media literacy
(Assignment 1), media effects literature (Assignment 2), and social implications of media (which
is the overall objective of this class) and how you see it influencing our future. In other words,
we want to know what you think the role of technology is in our current society. Many people
have different arguments that typically range from technology is bad to technology is good, with
many people acknowledging that there is an in-between. For this assignment, you will be
watching two talks and comparing their arguments, as well as demonstrating your position on
the debate of “is technology good or bad for society?”
During the course of this class, we’ve seen how communication technology has changed.
Communication technology was once a matter of the printing press, and dependent on
co-location. Media has shifted to be more digital, and the Internet, smartphones, and social
media spreads in a different way than it did before. This includes media constructions such as
advertisements, social media, video games, the internet, user-generated content like YouTube
videos, memes, and web forums like Reddit among others. So far, we’ve learned that media are
constructed to propose certain messages. And sometimes, those messages are constructed to
influence particular groups of people for profitable gains at the exploitation of certain people. But
at other times, messages are constructed to provide resources or information to people.
Therefore, as mentioned above, you will write an analytical essay comparing two tracks of
thought regarding the social benefits/risks of media production and an increasingly connected
world. Specifically, you will compare the arguments of:
1) Sherry Turkle (dystopic)
2) Stefana Broadbent (utopic)

2. Intro (what are you going to talk about in this essay?)
● Main thesis (what and who are you arguing for?)
● Supporting evidence (based on your thesis, what evidence is provided via both
examples?)
● Counter-argument (based on your evidence, where do you see flaws in your argument?)
● Conclusion (What is the summary of what you argued?)

3. 2 pages

4. AP style