Friday, May 1, 2009

"The Autumn of the Multitaskers"

We have been discussing the use of syntax, diction, and tone in class. As we have discussed, your research paper should maintain a formal, academic tone that is appropriate for an educated readership. What this means for you is that your paper should avoid contractions, personal pronouns, informal analogies and descriptions, and humor.

That being said, this week's essay is a perfect example of the difference between an academic essay and a popular essay. Popular essays can be found in magazines and often use those very techniques that academic essays avoid: contractions, personal pronouns, informal analogies and descriptions, and humor. As such, popular essays seek to entertain as much as inform. For example, "The Autumn of the Multitaskers" has a clear thesis: multitasking is inefficient and often dangerous. However, rather than just providing clear evidence in the form of logos, ethos, and pathos (which the essay does quite well), the author also provides numerous informal examples to provide levity and humor.

For this week's post, choose a sentence that illustrates this informality and explain how it strengthens or weakens the author's argument.

For example, on page 159 Kirn provides an example from The Starr Report of the investigation into whether or not Bill Clinton committed perjury . This is certainly a humorous example of multitasking, but it doesn't convey the same connotations of danger that his other examples (like the car crash) provide. For me as a reader, this example of Bill Clinton was more of a humorous distraction than it was a useful example.

31 comments:

Anonymous said...

On page 168 of The autumn of the Multitaskers a statement was added to the essay which strengthened his argument. "we've got to be patient and commited (in Iraq), but we've got to multitask... We've got to talk about Iran - Iran is more dangerous than Iraq - and we have got to get the job done in Afghanistan and in Pakistan." showing the relevance of multitasking being present in affairs of war representd the society that we live in. it gives the reader the example that not just talking on the phone and driving is multi tasking and may result in a wreck. it shows that if particular people are focused on different ideas they may lose focus on the main point and have a negative impact, in this case, on the nation.

Anonymous said...

^ Heather Walker

Anonymous said...

Ana Sofia Pottella Perez

Kirn cleverly adjusts his syntax to support his thesis throughout the article. Keeping the comical tone, on page 161 he writes: "And what they did was not influenced by metaphors about what they ought to be capable of doing but very well might not be equipped for (assuming you wanted to do it in the first place), like editing a playlist to e-mail to the lover whose husband you’re interviewing on the phone about the movie he made that you’re discussing in the blog entry you’re posting tomorrow morning and are one-quarter watching certain parts of as you eat salad and carry on the call." Here, the use of a lengthy sentence communicates to the readers that extreme multitasking is tedious and operates without a coherent outline.

Anonymous said...

On page 162 Kirn Walter gives an example of multitasking, "I do like to read a book while having sex,ant on the phone." Although it is funny, it is quite inappropriate and not used effectively because it is almost just put there out of no where.

Leo Contreras

Anonymous said...

Valeria Landeros


On page 160 of The Autunm of the Multitaskers, Kirn explains that "the next generation, is the hardest hit," he explains how they are the ones who are doing the most multitasking of them all. I think this strengthens his arguement about multitaskers because he has good evindence that shows the percentage of what the students are multitasking, and he aslo explains that it is not good for them to be doing this because of the fact that their brains are still maturing, and by doing all these multitasking is not helping them at all.

Anonymous said...

Irene Coutinho

Page 165 - Cost of pitying Kevin Federline while organizing business trip online and attaching computer peripheral: $279.

Walter Kirn is not happy about the fact that every time he opens his AOL email account he has to look at Kevin Federline’s picture that is right next to the AOL email icon. One day in particular proved extremely distracting and caused him to lose a $275 discounted airfare. He had earlier reserved the cheap air ticket to San Francisco and had to book it within a certain time. When he went to access his email, he saw a new photo of Federline and a link, which he opened out of curiosity. The link explained that this particular photo had been taken on the day Federline was taping a TV show and checking his email, and saw an email from his wife, Britney Spears asking for a divorce. Kirn infers that Federline’s shocked face as he read the message was caught on a camera-phone by a friend and sold to a tabloid magazine for a huge sum of money.

Anonymous said...

Vanna san,

On page 159 a quote,
"While the president continued talking on the phone (Ms Lewinsky understood that the caller was a Member of Congress or a Senator), she performed oral sex on him." of "The Autumn of the Multitaskers." This quote definitely hurts the credibility of the essay. The author uses this quote from the The Star Report as a down side of being multitasking, but this quote doesn't go with his essay at all. It just a failed attempt of a personal disparage rather than to bring both sides, bad and good, of multitasking.

Lanie Greer said...

Page 160:
"They're the ones way out there on the cutting edge of the multitasking revolution, texting and instant-messaging each other while they download music to their iPod and update their Facebook page and complete a homework assignment and keep an eye on the episode of The Hills flickering on a nearby television."
I think this sentence strengthens the author's argument because it proves that there are kids all over the world doing this everyday. Personally, I know many of them. It shows evidence while bringing humor to the table.

Anonymous said...

Andrew Espinoza

on page 155 the author uses the statement "With that last dumb idea, we were getting close to something, as I've noted every time I've dropped or fumbled my cell phone and snapped a picture of a wall or the middle button of my shirt." This is a good use of humor but it does not really help his argument of his essay.

Anonymous said...

Rylee Fidler


Kirn uses an example on page 163 in which he is discussing the deaths of people who were talking on a cell phone while driving and he's talking about how the person on the other line is probably too busy to notice. He uses the quote " To busy cooking, Nordic tracking, fluffing up his online dating profile, or - most hauntingly of all I'd Think, for a listener destined to discover that the acoustic chaos he'd interpreted as the other phone going out of range, or perhaps as a newtowrk-wide disturbance triggered by a solar flare, was actually a death, a human deathe, a death he had some role in-sitting on the toilet."


I love this example because it's a strong example how something so silly as talking on the phone to someone who is driving, even without it seeming like a big deal can be. If a person would have just been cooking without talking to that person driving, that person could still be alive. This shows that a innocent mistake can lead to tragic consequences.

Viviana Chaides said...

On page 159 of "The Autumn of the Multitaskers" the author, Walter Kirn, uses the quote "While the president continued talking on the phone (Ms. Lewinsky understood that the caller was a Member of Congress or a Senator), she performed oral sex on him" which really weakens the essay because most of us do not see does kinds of acts as multitasking.

Anonymous said...

princess watts

pg 160
"The next generation, presumably, is the hardest hit.this sentence strengths the essay because it explains how teenagers multitask by texting messaging while being on the computer and doing other things. which is true because we all text message and drive or text and be on the computer.

Anonymous said...

Tesiah Carrillo
The quote Kirn uses from Jennifer Connelly, about having sex while reading a book does illustrate his point on the multitasking matter but since it is too inappropriate in my opinion it somewhat deters his argument, which could be viewed to be a popular piece.

Anonymous said...

On page 159, Walter Kirn uses "While the president continued talking on the phone (Ms. Lewinsky understood that the caller was a Member of Congress or a Senator), she performed oral sex on him" as a weak way to use multitasking because it has nothing to do with is essay.

Anonymous said...

^ Manuel Moreno

Anonymous said...

Jomarie Apas

On page 165 of The autumn of the multitaskers , Walter Kirn uses Kevin Federline as an example. He talks about the cost of Federline while organizing business trip online and attaching computer peripheral. Though the statement provides a humorous mood it does not quite provide the best example of multitasking. I believe it throws off Kirns purpose on his argument.

Anonymous said...

Vanessa Cruz

Even though, Kern uses personal pronouns and description to describe his example of getting a new phone on page 162. It is an effective example that supports his thesis that multitasking should be avoided because he is thinking about multiple examples where his old cell phone has cause problems for him, while he buys a new phone. This also gives another point to his thesis that cell phones contribute to multitasking.

Anonymous said...

Denise Gonzalez

On page 165 Kirn provides an example from the Federal Reserve of the attention economy, the central bank of overcommitment, keeping the system liquid with adrenaline. This is certainly a personal pronoun describing the problem that we, the bankers, are also the borrowers. Kirn's example of multitasking is more on the real and I believe it does not convey the same connotations of his other examples on multitasking.

Anonymous said...

Justin Dial

Walter Kirn, author of "The Autumn of the Multitaskers", presents strong examples of multitasking in his essay. The one example that I found weak, but humorous was the quote that Kirn took from Jennifer Connelly. She says, "I do like to read a book while having sex. And talk on the phone. You can get so much done" (Kirn 162). Although this example does explain multitasking, I think it provides humor instead of stating the message across. I felt like this example was more of a distraction than a strong example.

Anonymous said...

Brenda Castro

On page 162 Kirn quotes, "I do like to read while having sex." This sentence is innapropriate for this essay, but in a sence strengthens the authors argument. It's a good example that backs up his point that multitasking is less time consuming but in the end like in this case they wont have remembered what they had just read because like he mentions the brain will only be processing the information rather than remembering it.

Anonymous said...

Joana Esquivel

After reading the essay "The Autumn of the Multitasks," has strong claims to prove his argument. he has good claims and as I was reading I came along a part that mentions "I do like to read a book while having sex.And talk on the phone." I thought that was inappropriate quote.Even though it mentions about being multitask I still do not believe that it was correct of him to put that in the essay.

Anonymous said...

"But then, one night on a snowy two-lane highway, while i was crossing Wyoming to see my girls real face,my phone made its chirpy you-have-a-picture noise,and i glanced down in its direction while also, apparently swerving off the pavement and sailing over a steep embankment toward a barbed-wire fence." page 156.

This is a serious factor of multitasking while drive. accidents like this one described happen all the time. many people die this way because they are to busy on their cellphones while they are driving.they loose sight of what they should be really doing and end up being hurt by something that they thought could not hurt them. this is a good evidence that states that multitasking isn't always the best thing to do.


Veronica Lara

Anonymous said...

Lanique Tennant
On page 156, the author stated "(...as I handled a feature-laden upgrade that my new account entitled me to purchase at a deep discount that also included a rebate)there may come a moment on a plane or in a subway station or at a mall when I and the other able-bodied males will be forced to subdue a terrorist, and my color snapshot of his trussed up body will make the front page of USA today and appear at the left shoulder of all the superstars of cable news. This description makes it seems as if technology is a necessity, and if we don't have the latest, we have our fifteen minutes of fame, so this made it a negative cogitation to me.

Anonymous said...

Natalia A. Ornelas

On page 159 paragraph four, the author states "Multitasking messes with the brain in several ways. At the mostclassic level,the mental balancing acts that it requires-,,,in memory and learning."This statement supports his argument of how it affects our brain. He gives reasons why it is dangerous, like the constant switching and such that this makes it strong. He supports his thesis.

Anonymous said...

Jared taylor

page 160-161

"It begins by giving us more tasks to do, making each task harder to do, and dimming the mental powers required to do them.u It finishes by making us forget exactly how on earth we did them (assuming we didn't give up, or "multiquit") which makes them harder to do again."

The informality of this article comes from its humor in simplifying multitasking. This example helps the article because people can identify with this image when they think of multitasking.

Anonymous said...

Midhat Farooq
English 110-09

In the article, Kirn describes a study conducted at UCLA, in which "researchers asked a group of twenty-somethings to sort index cards in two trials" (169). Using such an informal term, "twenty-somethings," Kirn is able to emphasize the age group that the study concentrated on. He refers to the group with very little attention by not even acknowledging the actual age range, and this lack of importance gives the students a negative connotation. This technique helps Kirn's article, because his main point about multitasking focuses on the younger generation. Since he is able to give them a negative connotation, he makes his point that multitasking, which is more common in youngsters, is not good.

Anonymous said...

Maria Juarez

I agree with Leo, the quote where Kirn stated," I do like to read a book while having sex..." (p 162) is very inappropriate. Although he was probably trying to have humor, it was ineffective. I don't think it helped to strengthened his essay. Even though he wanted to use as an example of multitasking, I don't think that was a that great of an example.

Anonymous said...

Allison Hunsaker

I do agree with Leo when he expressed "I do like to read a book while having sex..."(page 162). I believe that was the wrong type of expression to say. Yes, he was just trying to use his sense of humor it was just very inappropriate. It did not help strengthen his essay. Even though he wanted to use as an example of multitasking, he could have been able to think of a better example.

Anonymous said...

here is my comment.

m woodman

Joepjyb said...

^ Manuel Moreno

Greg Turner said...

Andrew Espinoza on page 155 the author uses the statement "With that last dumb idea, we were getting close to something, as I've noted every time I've dropped or fumbled my cell phone and snapped a picture of a wall or the middle button of my shirt." This is a good use of humor but it does not really help his argument of his essay.