Analysis Of Franz Johnston's Essay 'Don T Like'

Franz Johnston’s article Don’t ‘Like’ – Get Out There! was published in The New York Times in 2011. The newspaper is influential and read by a broad audience, and the essay was inspired by a commencement speech the author did at a college. Because we live in a world surrounded by technology, the article is relevant for most people and by using examples from his own life is a great way of telling others, that the joy in life, does not revolve around being accepted by a like from social media.

Johnston is an American novelist and essayist. He is accustomed to use the language to his favour because he writes in a language, which is understandable to the wide spectra of the population. He uses pathos with his many examples as a way of making the reader feel a bit guilty, for not putting their phone down from time to time. Especially the whole thing about living online is not really living and the way he uses the environment as a hidden argument about if people cared more about other things than themselves, they could do a lot for the environment. He has experienced this transformation himself and how liberating it is, to no longer be tied to technology. Johnston starts the essay by telling about his old and new phone, comparing them to humans by writing, “I’d developed trust issues with my Pearl,

These are concrete example, which the young people, who uses these daily, and can apprehend these comparisons. However, Johnston only uses these in the beginning before he moves on to talk about love and pain and how much they are missing because their heads are buried in their phone, “My aim here is mainly to set up a contrast between the narcissistic tendencies of technology and the problem of actual love” (p. 10, ll. 142-145) However, because the reader is familiar with the arguments about them being addicted to the feeling of