Alyse Ellis
9/27/2010
Television Addiction
Anyone who has watched TV or even owns a television is subject to being the audience for this blog. We all know people who watch TV are not immediately addicted, although, they might fall victim to this habit and it result in addiction. The blog I have chosen has very little evidence aside from personal experience presented. However I feel it’s important to analyze this to see how one person took it amongst themselves to analyze their own addiction and record their thoughts and emotions.
The textual analysis in an ethos point of view would express that the author is a typical blogger. Although they have no specified authority or expertise, the statements made are opinion. They admit through the text a feeling of addiction to the television. Stated are a few of the symptoms and emotions he feels while watching and not watching TV. Majority of the emotions are negative. Thus the author concludes that he is against this dependency on TV. The pathos point of view in this text is best described as persuasive. They write in a way that moves the reader to feel it is a negative dependency. The text exudes this emotion through phrases such as, “[My addiction]… has caused me a great deal of mental, physical and psychological agony.” The word “agony” proves to the reader that the victim is admitting to distress, and misery. While looking at the logos aspect of the text, because it’s a blog the supporting evidence is limited. The only evidence given is that of their own experiences. Even then this evidence is not factual because it is an opinion. In this context the author is bias towards this addiction. Most likely because they have experienced it firsthand. Thus through their own experiences, as mentioned before, the text is persuasive by the choice of words used to describe their dependency. Although persuasive, there is no statistical evidence. The text is captivating because it’s logical to assume everyone in this century has a TV. However it holds that interest in forcing the reader to question their own situation, and whether or not they too are dependent on this media device.
While the textual analysis in more frank, the visual analysis is a little more abstract. This abstract trait forces the mind to reason through the picture and piece together things that may come with this addiction. This particular visual does not advertise any agency or authority they might have. This picture does, however, increase the effectiveness on the text that follows. The hypnotized look in the child’s face sends a message of enslavement to TV. The text does evoke an emotion of a spellbound dependency. The plain black and white hues are very blunt and straight forward. They portray a serious statement that is to be clear. This visual is very supportive to the text. It is also constructed in a plain manor. It is not crowded or blurry to again come off as very direct. The Internet is the medium used to get the photo acknowledged.
While the text alone is effective as is the visual, when combined the argument is a lot more effective. In both the main focus is addiction to television. The text and visual complement each other and balance each other to maximize efficiency in the argument. In both, the author clearly feels that the addiction is a negative feature in their life. Although the visual has no words it does suggest that we have a demand for television as the television has a demand for the electricity. The visual does deepen the understanding of the text. The visual is places at the top of the blog before any text. This immediately sets the tone and proposes the argument the author will take. If the visual was missing the text would not be as effective. It definitely sets the tone of the argument as well as the approach to the situation. It is a great assistance to the entire passage.
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