KANG

Xiwen Kang
Professor Landrus
ENGL 101X
9 Nov. 2015

Rhetorical Analysis
By Xiwen Kang

In her article Social Media's Vampires: They Text by Night, which posted on
The New York Times, Laura Holson introduces the fact that many teenagers
nowadays have habits of browsing social network websites and chatting with
their friends during nocturnal hours. She first gives some examples of teenagers
who usually get caught by their parents while using their phones or laptops after
midnight. Then the author argues that these phenomenons are teenagers reactions
to their busy and stressful daytime schedules which limit their pursuit of personal
interests. While many parents are struggling with this issue, the author points out
that parents need to first follow their own advice in order to let their children do
so.
The audience of this article are mainly parents and teachers who are
concerned about teenagers use of social networks during normal sleeping hours.
The whole article constructs a strong appeal of logos to its audiences by asking
and answering many questions about causes and effects. The author also
frequently cites statistics data and quotes of experts to increase the essays

KANG
ethos. Besides the normal rhetorical methods that are widely used, this article is
also distinctive and characteristic in its use of many figurative languages.
The article starts with a detailed description of a high school students
ordinary night. The young man watches videos on his laptop and texts to his
friends under the bedcovers to hide his late-night activities. And then the author
mentions the conflict between the student and his parents who believe that
computers and mobile phones should be stored in the kitchen by 10 p.m. This
beginning paragraph contains a strong emotional appeal of pathos to its
audiences. Because the intended audiences of this article are mainly those parents
who care about teenagers use of social media at late night, this depiction of a
daily scene can remind them of experiences that find their children using social
network sites secretly by laptops or smart phones during sleeping hours. Thus,
this feeling of sympathy is able to move audiences to a deeper appreciation of this
articles significance.
After providing examples of two specific teenagers who have habits of using
social media during sleeping hours, the author produces the exigence of this issue
by citing statistic data from a recent poll conducted by the National Sleep
Foundation, which states that more than half of 15 to 17 year olds sleep about
seven hour a night, 90 minutes less than the minim recommendation. This piece
of information provided by the author successfully informs audiences the
exigence of this issue by pointing out the how ubiquitous this issue is among our
teenagers.

KANG
In the third paragraph, then, the author strengthens the articles appeal of
logos and ethos to its audiences by seeking the cause and effects about this
widespread issue. He first cites the opinions of teenagers themselves complains
about their onerous tasks every day, and then introduces the experts arguments
which regard this phenomenons as teenagers reactions to their busy schedules and
less free time to pursue personal interests. The authors frequent and
comprehensive citations of the stakeholders and experts in this paragraph
increases her credibility, and the process of finding possible reasons for
teenagers night time mobile phones use elevates the logical appeal of this essay.
Besides the classical appeals, the author uses many figures of language in
this article to help the audiences understand her arguments. When the author tries
to introduce the special group of teenagers who use their laptops and mobile
phones at late-night, she uses a simile that compares these teenagers with
vampires, which are active only at night. The authors employment of simile
can make this kind of teenager activity more intelligible to her audience by
highlighting its attributes. And when the author tries to explain her argument that
parents themselves should not use electronic devices in late-time hours, she uses
the figure of antithesis by mentioning teenagers opinion, if we cant have it,
why can you have it? The use of antithesisin this paragraph increases the
articles pathos by asking parents to consider this issue on teenagers
perspectives. In addition to her use of figures of language, the author also
employs a figure of thought called reasoning by question and answer in her

KANG
article. After introducing the example of a boy who stays up late using social
media, the author asks a question, Does his mother get upset?, and then she
answers the question by retailing the boys mothers response to her sons latenight activity. This figure gives the audiences a feeling that they are participating
in the construction of the argument. On the other hand, the use of questioning and
answering also increases the articles logos by telling the cause and effect of
this behavior.
Another advantage of this article is that the author provides many photos in
his article which shows teenagers using their smart phones in dim light. These
photos can help the audiences understand how ubiquitous this phenomenon is
among teenagers and feel the exigence of this issue.
Although the author cites the teenagers and parents opinions frequently in
this article to increase her ethos, she decreases the persuasive potential by using
third-person discourse in this article. The wide citations and third-discourse
indeed allow she to present the issue objectively. However, they also lengthens
the rhetorical distance between the writer and her audience. Besides, the author
spends too many words in citing parents and teenagers words which leaves
herself little space to illustrate her own opinions and considerations on this
prevalent issue.As a result, her audiences, most are parents, understand the
significance of this issue but do not know clearly how to guide their children
away from using mobile phones during sleeping hours.
Overall, the author comprehensibly shows the rhetorical appeal of logos,

KANG
ethos and pathos in this article. And she also employs various rhetorical
figures and provides plenty of photos to make this issue more intelligible to the
audiences. However , this article is somewhat lack of stasis of action because the
author uses too many citations and illustrate few her own arguments.

Work Cited

Holson, Laura. Social Medias Vampires: They Text by Night.

New York Times. New York Times, Jul 2014. Web. 3 Jul 2014.