In today’s industrialized nations, it is common to hear people say, “I’m always tired,” or “I didn’t get enough sleep last night.” In fact, in order get through the day, many people believe they must use caffeine and other products simply to stay awake. One theory for our decreased lack of quality sleep is our increased use of technology. While there has been a great deal of research on this topic, we must be careful to judge the type of sources we use when gathering information. When looking for information, we can find sources that vary from first-hand scientific research to an ordinary individual’s blog of his own personal experiences. In my research of how technology affects sleep, I used two different sources: an article in WebMD and an infographic produced by a bed company. Although both sources suggest that technology has negative effects on the amount and quality of sleep people get, the WebMD source is written at a higher level, has a more professional appearance, and uses more scientific language when advising readers to put their technology away. Both of these sources were created in response to a perceived current problem. The alleged lack and quality of sleep must be blamed on …show more content…
Although WebMD is a public website that can be used by anyone, a large segment of their target audience includes medical professionals. In the WebMD article titled How TV, Internet, and Other Electronic Devices Impact Sleep, Hatfield uses more scientific language than was used in my other source. Although the article starts out with an easy-to-read story about Lynn Taylor who has trouble sleeping, the rest of the article becomes much more technical. For instance, Hatfield uses terms such as hypothalamus, melatonin, and cortisol. The author does try to help readers who do not have a medical background by providing parenthetical definitions, hyperlinks, and discussions of terms