Analyzing Twenge's Argument Summary

As Twenge continues her argument she compares it back to her own experiences which ties up this argument in the successfulness of it. She uses these comparisons to help emphasize important parts of her argument. Beginning with “they think we like our phones more than we like actual people.” This state of unhappiness around teens forms her bigger argument that this is a main reason smartphones have destroyed a generation, “It was exactly the moment where the proportion of Americans who owned a smartphone surpassed 50%”. The owning of smartphones “placed in the young people’s hands are having profound effect on their lives -- and making them seriously unhappy.” Their social interactions decrease and their screen time increases as the years go

The phone is the reason behind most of the sadness in teens today and the reason they are becoming anti-social in person but more social over social media. “All screen activities are linked to less happiness and all non-screen activities are linked to more happiness.” Twenge continues to refer to sadness and depression, loss of happiness. It becomes repetitive throughout her argument. Another repetitive item she uses is statistics. “Eighth graders who spend 10 or more hours a week on social media are 56% more likely to say that they are unhappy” (Twenge). To back up her argument, her constant use of statics creates an illusion that this represents the entire population. The use of rhetorical strategies creates the illusion that sadness is being invoked because of smartphones. Can smartphones really be the main cause of all the sadness there is within teens? Her use of connotations are an effective way of getting her claims across but it is an ineffective way to prove that smartphones are the main reason of depressed