Screen Time Dangerous For Children By Alison Gopnik Summary

The article “Screen Bee: Is “Screen Time” Dangerous for Children” written by Alison Gopnik personally evaluates the negatives and positives of technology for the younger generation through a variety of language and argument features. Gopnik illustrates how technology is able to inspire the pursuit of knowledge and exploration through Augie, but also explores the concerns surrounding what technology can potentially expose children to. The article predominantly exhibits features of an opinion piece through the use of personal opinions, anecdotes, categorical statements, colloquial, inclusive and hyperbolic language. Ultimately, the article highlights that screen time should not be the concern, but rather the content that can be readily accessed

Gopnik begins the article with an anecdote to introduce the topic of “Screen Time” in a personal setting. Gopnik recounts the time spent with Augie “watching the bees” and their journey in exploring how “[bees] make the honey” (Gopnik 2016). Anecdotes and personal experiences are commonly used in opinion writing, which is utilised in this article to give credibility to Gopnik’s opinion and provide insight into the experiences that influenced their particular opinion (Song et al. 2016). Additionally, Gopnik uses many categorical statements such as “Many parents worry”, “English children’s books.. are full of tantalising food descriptions”, which are avoided in academic writing due reducing the credibility and authenticity of the argument (Gopnik 2016) (Brick et al. 2020). Gopnik claims that “recent research” highlights that fear surrounding “children and screens are unfounded”, but no evidence or citation is included to reinforce this argument, which is typical of opinion writing (Gopnik 2016). However, by using simpler lexicon and avoiding verbose sentences, Gopnik is able to appeal to a wider audience and form a connection with the reader to develop a sense of commonality and shared experience through this style of

An informal, subjective tone is another key feature of opinion writing as it is enables the author’s opinion to be easily understood and more accessible to a wider audience (Brick et al. 2020). Gopnik also uses inclusive language such as “I, my, me, you” throughout the article, which implores the reader to actively engage in the debate or discussion surrounding the topic, which is a common feature of opinion writing (Brick et al. 2020). However, despite maintaining an informal tone for the first half of the article, Gopnik changes to a more formal tone in the second half of the article, utilising more sophisticated language in phrases such as “alternate reality”, “sonic vibrations”, and “something revelatory” (Gopnik 2016). Furthermore, Gopnik takes a more detached approach to descriptions by using less inclusive and informal language. This is exemplified through a precise description on how honey is made using scientific terms such as “secrete”, “enzyme”, “invertase” and “dextrose”, which further highlights features of a position piece as these terms are objective and factual (Brick et al. 2020) (Gopnik 2016). The absence of emotion and opinion from the information being conveyed in this section of the article more closely resembles