Mya Hankes
English 110 C-1
Professor Brod
October 12th
Online, we can instantly connect with others we may not normally interact with. This can be because of opposing views, locations, and lifestyles. Social media is able to mesh together cultures and people from all over the world. In Konnikova’s article, she talks about how the limitless connection online is damaging to society. She contradicts herself by stating, “Our real-world friends tend to know the same people that we do, but, in the online world, we can expand our networks strategically, leading to better business outcomes” (Konnikova 5). Konnikova contradicts her own view of social media by stating how it can expand our platforms of people and lead to good outcomes. Phelps-Roper is a sterling example of this. She was originally given her platform for the expansion of Westboro, but came out with an expansion of herself. She strategically connected with others to spread the words of the church, and through that she learned about others and their personal lives. Phelps-Roper described it as, “It was like I was becoming part of a community,” Phelps-Roper said. By following her opponents’ feeds, she absorbed their thoughts on the world, learned what food they ate, and saw photographs of their babies. “I was beginning to see them as human,” she said. When she read about an earthquake that struck off Canada’s Pacific coast, she sent a concerned tweet to Graham Hughes: “Isn’t this close to you?”(Chen 9). Wouldn’t this be considered a better business outcome? Konnikova’s point in her article is the negatives of social media, but disregards the deeper connections we can make. Twitter humanized Phelps-Roper and expanded her mindset. She was immersed in culture and people she never experienced within the walls of Westboro. I feel that social media is a place where you are able to express, educate, and discover other cultures. “Unfollow” depicts this beautifully.
The amount of followers you have on a platform factors into the amount of people you actually interact with. Hypothetically, if you have 500 followers on Twitter, you realistically only connect with a portion. In Konnikova’s article, it explains that with the amount of people online, humans are still only able to maintain few relationships. She makes note of research conducted at Indiana University, stating, “When Bruno Gonçalves and his colleagues at Indiana University at Bloomington looked at whether Twitter had changed the number of relationships that users could maintain over a six-month period” and Gonçalves concluded, “despite the relative ease of Twitter connections as opposed to face-to-face one, the individuals that they followed could only manage between one and two hundred stable connections” (Konnikova 5). This research states that even though Twitter is easily used, users are not able to maintain many stable connections. For Phelps-Roper, it did not matter the amount of connections she made. The few she did make is what made it’s dramatic impact. Phelps-Roper was able to build strong and meaningful relationships with the people who rebutted against her. Graham Hughes, who initially interviewed her and afterwards continued their connection online, said, “Afterward, they corresponded frequently on Twitter. When Hughes was hospitalized with a brain infection, Phelps-Roper showed him more concern than many of his real-life friends. “I knew there was a genuine connection between us,” he said.” (Chen 8-9). Phelps-Roper cared about the personal relationships she made online, more than her faith. She cared about their well-being, their families, their thoughts, and their connection. These complexes were things her faith steered her away from and forbade. Westboro has never taught them to feel empathy for others or think of their own feelings. Everything was to be done for the church and ultimately, God. Without the relationships she curated online, Phelps-Roper would not have changed her beliefs. They taught her what it meant to be an individual in the world and to be part of something bigger than Westboro. Social media is what brought her together with people like Hughes and Abitbol, people who she would have not met otherwise.
I rely more on transitions and using pointing words. I like to include a lot of transition words in my sentences when I am trying to make contrasting points. It becomes a weakness when I begin to repeat “but” too much as a contradicting phrase. This chapter gave me ideas of others I can use. One weakness that I have is the use of pronouns in my writing that end up making it vague or unclear who I am referring to. I think after reading the transition passage, I’ll be able to use better wording with my sentences and have more variety with my transitions. I feel like this will make my writing more interesting for the reader and make my argument stronger.
