Discuss the ways in which this progression is changing the landscape of our society as we are increasingly reliant on our devices and what we are offered through our online immersion.

English 102 Prompts

Essay II
Essay I will be approximately 3 pages in length, double spaced and proper MLA formatting with internal citations. Students must demonstrate the ability to quote, paraphrase, summarize, and cite sources correctly. Source material will be the course readings (Mary Louise Pratt’s “Arts of the Contact Zone”, Sherry Turkle’s “The Tethered Self” and Michel Foucault’s piece “Panopticism”) and 4 academic sources of the student’s selection that will analyze the issues within the course readings. Students will choose one of the prompts to attend to in their essay development.

Prompt 1
In Sherry Turkle’s piece “Always-On/Always-On-You: The Tethered Self” she posits that we are immersed in a new form of sociality, a changing communal space that comes from our increasing reliance on our devices. With this comes a new understanding of intimacy and need for validation. In “Generation Like” we see young adults seeking the external validation their constant presence online creates, with little understanding of the implications on their internal sense of self. In this prompt, discuss the ways in which this progression is changing the landscape of our society as we are increasingly reliant on our devices and what we are offered through our online immersion.

Hints: Think about selfies and why they are taken and posted. Think of how one’s online presence is viewed as an extension of their self, and how that has consequences when presented in a public space. Think about how social media sites function in the society and the influence they have. Think about how “numbers” are the new currency for social media “influencers”.