The third and most important assumption that the authors make is that they agree about the enormous amount of time students spend on these social networking sites. This ties in with the very reason they are writing their articles, to either justify or condemn this expenditure of time. While Ms Wood believes that sites such as Facebook can enhance the free exchange of ideas, Ms. Wei Tang articulates her belief that they are a waste of time.
You brought up some very interesting points that I had not thought of when writing my post. I certainly agree with you that both authors have a belief that education is important and that this is the perspective from which both articles are written. Also, I agree with your third comparison, it is the most clear and strongest similarity between the articles.
ReplyDeleteThere are some things you said that I never even thought about either. It didn't even hit me that the authors both believe every student is using facebook and other social sites religiously. For many students this is not the case. I know many kids who don't touch their facebooks for long periods of time if ever. It's a very select group that is "wasting time" on these sites.
ReplyDeleteI think you touch on an important topic that may be overlooked. That of which both authors assume that the majority of people use social networking sites. In lieu of this assumption, I would think that Wei Tang's argument is diminished by the sheer fact that so many people use these sites. If the majority of people from ages 16-29 are on social networking sites there must be something about them that is beneficial, something that works.
ReplyDeleteI like how you addressed the fact that both authors are trying to emphasize the importance of education in their responses to the question. I had never really thought of this as an assumption, but it truly does create the pathway for the discussion and argument that they are pursuing. Also I agree with the fact that the main assumption that is made was that they both believe that college students spend enormous amounts of time on Facebook, MySpace and twitter.
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