Anna Goldfarb I Keep My Relationship Offline Rhetorical Analysis
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Social media can be a strange world of its own. People post whatever they feel like, most of the time without even giving it a second thought. That second thought is much more crucial than it appears to be, though. Anna Goldfarb conveys this very message that people need to think before posting, specifically about their relationships, as the effect can be much farther reaching than it appears. Through the use of rhetorical appeals and persuasive techniques, Anna Goldfarb’s article “I keep my relationship offline. It’s better that way” effectively conveys that relationships should be kept off of social media. To begin, Goldfarb uses ethical appeal to show what credentials she has on the topic of relationships. Goldfarb has an impressive amount…show more content… She includes a study that outlines how participants evaluated fake Facebook profiles with varying levels of details about their relationships to determine that those who overshared were the most unlikeable. This is effective because it provides proof from an actual study that people who post more about their love life are less liked, which would definitely discourage readers from doing so themselves. Goldfarb also supports her claim by including a quote from Psychology Today that talks about how overdoing posts about relationships could turn people off, and that a simple photo is best. Again, Goldfarb used this widely known source to her advantage in that people are more likely to trust it, therefore trust her. Goldfarb even makes use of a counter-argument when she talks about how she herself felt the need to post about her relationship. She explains that at first the approval felt good, but that she soon questioned, “Was I exploiting my personal life for virtual approval?” Goldfarb later answers her own question by stating that “a relationship is not a photo op.” This is extremely important in her argument because it shows why the other side of constantly posting about relationships is not a good choice. The important sources and studies that Goldfarb chooses to include lead further to the effectiveness of her