"Social Connections"
The first thing that should be in an essay is a hook. Something that is going to catch the reader's eye, but in Steven Johnson's piece, "Social Connections," I did not feel that he had an adequate hook. He started his piece with a reference to a column in The New York Times written by Thomas Friedman, not something that he wrote. That was the only thing that I did not like about his piece. I felt overall he wrote a very strong argument about technology and it's pros and cons in our society.
Johnson refers back to The New York Times article frequently throughout his piece. Since he continues to use it throughout I feel that it does strengthen his piece, because it shows his consistency. I did notice that Johnson's argument was similar to Friedman's. Johnson's argument was, "the idea that new technology is pushing us away from the people sharing our local spaces." Friedman's argument in his column was, "that technology is dividing us as much as uniting us." The two sound very similar to me. This can be detrimental to a piece, or it can be helpful, and in this case I feel that using Friedman's argument helps to strengthen Johnson's.
I liked the structure of Johnson's essay. I feel that he had good support and quotations throughout, and also uses his own experiences to help support his argument. I liked the varying sentence structure he used, and also the way that he organized his ideas. In one paragraph Johnson introduces his suggestions as to why he is less worried than Friedman is about technology. Then, in the following paragraphs explains his ideas in depth. I liked this because he was able to fully explain his idea's without mixing the two together. One thing that Johnson does well is his strong conclusion. His conclusion is where he states his thesis, and states his final thoughts very powerfully.
Overall, I feel that Johnson has a very strong piece. Although he continuously refers to someone else's ideas, I feel that it strengthens his piece as a whole. I also liked Johnson's use of personal experience throughout and his ability to vary his sentence and paragraph structures.
