english essay and dis

That’s where this topic gets really interesting: the question of whether or not people have the power to change addictive tech habits or if we’re just controlled by tech corporations. Instead of laying out my own stance on this idea, I want to encourage you to think about that question on your own. I’m going to have you write about it for the first essay, so I would like you to examine those ideas. Are we really powerless against tech companies, or do people have control over how they use technology? Or maybe it’s some combination of the two.

To shift gears a bit, I wanted to talk about MLA citation when writing titles. When you write the title of a shorter work, such as an individual article or essay, put the title in quotation marks. When you write the title of a longer work, such as a book, or an entire magazine or site, the title should be in italics. Here are some examples: 

Tristan Harris’ essay, “The Slot Machine in Your Pocket.”

The book, They Say, I Say.

An article called “Governor Fails to Lead Texas,” published in The New York Times.

Moving forward, try to use these citation styles in all of your writing for the class.

HW for Wednesday, 6/14: Read the intro and first chapter in They Say, I Say. Respond to my discussion questions and one of your peer’s responses.

HW for Sunday, 6/18: Read the following two articles and then write a response to whichever one stands out most to you.

http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2017/06/using_smartphone_data_to_diagnose_health_problems_like_alzheimer_s.html 

https://www.centeronaddiction.org/the-buzz-blog/does-smartphone-addiction-really-exist