Thanks for Not Sharing, Essay Example

Roger Cohen, “Thanks for not Sharing” New York TimesDecember 6^th, 2012

Short summary:The amusing and relatable article by Op-Ed columnist Roger Cohen discusses the use of social media in our society today and the propensity of many users to “overshare” personal information in order to draw attention to themselves.

Bias of author:Roger Cohen is a seasoned journalist and author. Originally from England, he has spent his life as a foreign correspondent and reporter for several publications. Given the nature of this column, I don’t think Cohen’s background influences his argument although if one were to speculate, you could say that his age influences his opinion on the use and usefulness of social media since he is approaching the subject from the standpoint of someone who has not grown up using social media.

Argument of the author:

1. Social media exists to share.
2. When other people begin to share interesting things, others begin to develop social anxiety.
3. Everyone overshares in an attempt to preserve their social standing in the eyes of their friends.

Personal opinion on author’s conclusion:

Cohen’s argument makes perfect logical sense. People are inclined to “overshare” in some way, he argues, when they feel their social status is being threatened. He cites the cringe-worthy Twitter posts by people doing various mundane or private tasks such as going grocery shopping or going into labor and we all experience this with at least one person we know. What makes these Tweeters think we would ever want to know this information? Cohen comes to the conclusion that people are “hard-wired” to fear and in today’s world we have little to fear so we have transferred our attention to social anxiety and the loss of social status. When we feel the loss coming on, such as one friend’s post having more “likes” or someone unfriending us from facebook, we begin to frantically overshare in order to draw attention to ourselves. It is a ridiculous cycle or oversharing and status anxiety but in the end, you just have to laugh at it.

References

Cohen, Roger. “Thanks for Not Sharing.” New York Times. N.p., 6 Dec. 2012.