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Running Head: SOCIAL MEDIA

Social Media
Madelyn Krieger
University of Texas at El Paso
Professor Meagan Kinley
RWS 1302

Social Media

Today it feels as though everyone has a social media account whether it be Facebook,
Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, and more. Everyone is connected with friends, celebrities,
companys, and more through social media. The average person spends countless hours
exploring social media and the internet. Through social media people are able to be included in
other peoples lives no matter what distance. Individuals get to share life events with friends and
family from anywhere around the world. Today in society, social media plays the biggest role in
everyones social life. Social media users can find countless advantages of social media but there
are disadvantages and negative aspects that users are too oblivious to see. Two genres,
iconography and typography, are going to illustrate the importance of the positive and negative
effects of social media. The American Academy of Pediatrics clinical report, The Impact of
Social Media on Children, Adolescents, and Families (2011), explains benefits of social media
such as socialization, communication, enhanced learning opportunities (OKeeffe, ClarkePearson, 2011, p.6), and the ability to access information. Another article The American
Academy of Pediatrics clinical report, The Impact of Social Media on Children, Adolescents, and
Families. According to the clinical journal researches have proposed a new disorder called
Facebook depression (OKeeffe, Clarke-Pearson, 2011, p.3). This is when preteens and teens
who spend a great majority of their time on social media and after a while start to resemble
symptoms of depression, such as social isolation. According to the clinical journal teens start to
lose interest in real life interactions leaving them to live their lives continuously online. A video
on YouTube by Jess the Dragoon, Marc Maron: The Social Media Generation Animated, gives a
look at how this generation seeks validation and attention from others through social media. The

Social Media Generation Animated (2013) illustrates adults as being seven year old children
and updating a status is a call out for attention, Can someone please acknowledge me?
(Macron, 2013, second 34), the video depicts this statement coming from a child but it is truly
similar to how adults act. These two genres will depict the important key aspects of this issue
Audience and Purpose
Marc Marons The Social Media Generation Animated, the primary purpose of this video
was to inform adults who use social media and how it affects their behavior and self-esteem.
Adults are similar to children by the means that they crave attention in different ways. The
American Academy of Pediatrics Clinical Report The Impact of Social Media on Children,
Adolescents, and Families, the purpose of this clinical journal was to inform the public of the
benefits and disadvantages of using social media especially in children, adolescents, and teens.
In Marons The Social Media Generation Animated most of the people that have watched
this resemble their lives with the message that is being depicted in the video. The video is only
two and half minutes but it leaves adults thinking of their own behavior. The use of informal
language leaves the viewer to relate more to the purpose of the video. The author of the script
used specialized vocabulary usually used to refer to social media such as a like, a retweet, or
post. The AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics) Clinical Report The Impact of Social Media
on Children, Adolescents, and Families uses their published clinical journal to show awareness
of social media itself. The audience is aware of a great majority of the stated facts on the clinical
journal. The journal elaborates more into each benefit and disadvantage. The audience is more
likely to get a better understanding for each benefit and disadvantage. The report is only seven
pages long but the audience would seem to resemble this journal as a pamphlet because it
possesses an adequate amount of information without being too overwhelming of information.

The clinical report does use professional language due to it coming from a professional
organization that does research to inform the public of their findings.
Between the Marons The Social Media Generation Animated and The American
Academy of Pediatrics Clinical Report The Impact of Social Media on Children, Adolescents,
and Families they share rare similarities. Some similarities between both genres are that both
demonstrate the negatives effects of social media. One may demonstrate how our behavior as
people are impacted by social media. The other genre demonstrates those negative effects by
showing the informational side. These negative effects can also be contrasted because The Social
Media Generation Animated gives a real life picture of the role social media plays in peoples
lives. The American Academy of Pediatrics Clinical Report The Impact of Social Media on
Children, Adolescents, and Families shows the disadvantages of social media as more book
termed description, this makes the audience unlikely to relate to these statements. Another
comparison between the two genres is that the video doesnt illustrate the benefits of social
media, while the other genre published by the AAP gives both sides of the topic.
Rhetorical Issues
In Marons The Social Media Generation Animated and The American Academy of
Pediatrics Clinical Report The Impact of Social Media on Children, Adolescents, and Families
exhibit rhetorical appeals, but both exhibit different techniques for each genre.

Ethos
The American Academy of Pediatrics Clinical Report The Impact of Social Media on
Children, Adolescents, and Families use ethos to appeal for credibility because the AAP is a
credible institution. The AAP is an institution that conducts continuous research and publishes

these studies annually, these studies are properly adopted by many professions in the medical
field. Since the AAP plays such a big role in the medical world they are highly credible, with this
in mind this makes any medical journal, including this one credible. The Social Media
Generation Animated doesnt have strong enough credibility in the ethos appeal. It doesnt give
statistics nor facts that can be credible.
Pathos
The use of pathos is most useful in The Social Media Generation Animated because the
director or animator uses the comparison between little kids and adults. The author appeals to the
emotion of the viewer by provoking them and questioning Are we adults? Most viewers would
be upset by this question but going further into the video the viewer uses self-reflection to make
the view empathize with themselves. The American Academy of Pediatrics Clinical Report
The Impact of Social Media on Children, Adolescents, and Families uses emotion in their genre
to appeal to parents of children and teenager. The AAP Clinical Report shares information that
would be considered any parents nightmare. The emotion of fear plays a constant role
throughout the AAPs Clinical Report.
Logos
Both genres have a logical stance. The Social Media Generation Animated uses a regular
event that has a constant result among many social media users. The need to feel accepted and
liked among others is what keeps people glued to their phones, but it also can contribute to low
self-esteem among many which can cause depression among most. In the AAP Medical Report,
the use of logic is a constant theme used to appeal to the audience. The AAP covers every logical
basis for each issue.
Structure and Delivery

Both genres had a different focus when it came to the main topic at hand. Marons The
Social Media Generation Animated shaped their information in a specific way that the viewer
can related the most to. The director of this video organized the information that was needed to
convey the main topic by creating a familiar situation most would relate to. The situation was a
event that would seem to be a popular post and psychologically thinks he will feel welcome and
popular by what he just witnessed. The man waits for a like to feel validated by others around
him. This depiction shows that people are obsessed with the fact that he wants to feel popular
and liked by what they illustrate on social media. The author then depicts this situation as a way
of feeling acknowledge by people, just like what a child would want from their parents. The
author makes this analogy making the audience see the true meaning of why we post on social
media, because we want to be acknowledged. The American Academy of Pediatrics Clinical
Report The Impact of Social Media on Children, Adolescents, and Families structures their
information by first introducing the topic of social media. Then their information is then
organized into subgroups. These subgroups then go further into detail and explore the different
sides of social media such as the advantages and disadvantages of social media that most wont
think further depict. This genre helps to convey the purpose of the message by proving that it
does exist but there are precautions that can be set to help people that feel they are bound to run
into.
Conclusion
Between both genres, the most effective one would have to be Marons The Social
Media Generation Animated. This is the most effective out of the two because it proves to be the
most effective to an audience. People can relate more to the video then The American Academy
of Pediatrics Clinical Report The Impact of Social Media on Children, Adolescents, and

Families. Through the illustration of the video the true message of the problem with social media
is revealed, which is social media dictates our own self-acknowledgement and self-worth. While
both genres offered very informative messages the best genre to convey the intended message
would have to be Marons The Social Media Generation Animated. Through his depiction more
are likely to understand, relate, and reflect on this issue.

References

O'keeffe, G. S., & Clarke-Pearson, K. (2011). The Impact of Social Media on Children,
Adolescents, and Families. Pediatrics, 127(4), 800-804. Retrieved February 14, 2016,
fromfile:///C:/Users/Madelyn/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/INetCache/IE/DLOY
K2VZ/O'Keeffe_and_Pearson._2011._The_Impact_of_Social_Media_on_Children,_Adol
escents,_and_Families.pdf.

Macron, M. (2013, October 5). Marc Maron: The Social Media Generation Animated [Cartoon].
Retrieved February 14, 2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGU8yjjJXD8