HW Sept 3

Jelani Pritchard

Professor Werry

RWS 100

3 Sept. 2014

Public Thinking Response

            Clive Thompson, in the article, “Smarter Than You Think,” gives multiple answers for the various of questions he is asking. The larger question that Thompson is trying to answer seems to be, how does reading and writing in the modern era affect public thinking?  Well first off Thompson states that the internet has helped the people create “a Niagra of writing” by “composing at least 3.6 trillion words daily” (Thompson 47). The internet is a great platform for sharing and connecting with others. With blogs, emails, and social media, individuals have a platform to ‘think publicly’ with others. Sharing the same ideas, thoughts, and feelings with another individual creates a connection with another. Whether it is from a one sentence Facebook post to a well thought out post on a blog, the writing is most likely presented for an audience. People tend to perform well if they know they have an audience watching them. “Social Scientists have called this the audience effect” (Thomposn 54).  Thompson makes several claims that the internet has affected writing in the modern era, an audience affects how well we write, and how we all can connect with one another based on the same thoughts and ideas we have. Thompson provides evidence by using qualitative authority, statistical data, and research studies. In the article, Thompson provides data from an English Professor from Stanford University, stating that “teens that message a lot appear to have slightly better spelling and literacy abilities than those who don’t” (Lunsford 66). There is also statistical evidence used to help Thompsons claim such as; “with the use of social media, we are composing about 3.6 trillion words daily, or the equivalent of 36 million books everyday” (Thompson 47). Along with statistical data and information provided by a qualitative authority figure, Thompson provides evidence from research studies. Research studies show that in an experiment at Vanderbilt University about the audience effect, kids performed much better in solving puzzles by saying what they were doing into a tape recorder than those who worked on the puzzle silently (Thompson 55).