Rhetorical Analysis

“The multiplication of social networking sites has led to increased frequency of use among young adults. While the association with mental wellbeing is still controversial, high levels of social media use were correlated with problematic behaviors, low self-esteem, and depressive symptoms” (El-Khoury). When a university student reads this scientific article, it is hard to let the fact that a positive change in mood, reduced anxiety and improved sleep was reported by students who had undergone social media detoxification. Digital detoxification is defined as “a period of time during which a person refrains from using electronic devices such as smartphones or computers, regarded as an opportunity to reduce stress or focus on social interaction in the physical world” (Oxford Dictionary). Joseph El-Khoury writes about this study and his results in his scientific article, Characteristics of Social Media ‘Detoxification’ in University Students. The conclusion and results that are made in the article have a direct correlation to how a digital detoxification could have positive effects on a university student that is reading it. This scientific article has been peer reviewed and was published in the Libyan Journal of Medicine demonstrating that it was written and intended for other scholars but can also be interpreted and applicable to the lives of university students and people looking into social media detoxification. By utilizing a strategy of connecting many young adults to a familiar and relatable topic, the author succeeds in persuading his audience of university students that detoxification from social media can have many positive effects.

In order to have success in persuading or encouraging your audience, the author needs to find a topic that is personable. Joseph El-Khoury does a great job of this by examining the impact of detoxification from social media in university students and its impact on factors such as improved sleep, reduction of anxiety, depressive symptoms, and positive or negative changes in mood. By using a topic that can be relatable to much of the population of student readers and scholars is very smart and helps to add a more persuasive attitude toward his audience. In his introduction, El-Khoury points out how the increase in social media use amongst US adults rose from 5% to 70% between 2005 and 2019. And by pointing out how the use of social media platforms is more common among adolescents with 71% having the ability to access to more than one social media platform. By writing about a topic that is applicable to scholars, college students and people looking into detoxification, tailoring it to university students in particular by using them in the study helps the author succeed in persuading them and making it more applicable to them. A college student who identifies that their use of social media is affecting their grades or another thing in their life can then use the internet to look up articles and journals that pertain to their problem. When they do this, the article written by El-Khoury will come up and have scientific studies done in order to prove their point. Many people, especially adults, can relate to an experience or time when they have witnessed someone being addicted to their phone or the internet. “The term Internet addiction encompasses poorly controlled preoccupations, urges or behavior regarding computer use and internet access that lead to impairment or distress. More selective categories have been proposed that take into consideration the interface used, the type of activity or the behavioral implications. They include terms such as social media addiction, computer addiction, incorporating gaming and programming, and net compulsions for gambling, shopping, and stock trading that takes place predominantly online” (El-Khoury). In this part of his article, Joseph El-Khoury evaluates common terms that can have an association with the purpose or idea of his article. This strategy helps to let people who are looking for articles on their certain topics to also get something out of this one because it is closely related to theirs. By relating his topic to a population that is very likely to use the source of their problems to identify it and relating the topic to other that are likely to be searched, Joseph El-Khoury does a great job and succeeds in persuading his audience by implementing a scientific study to back up his claims.

Mental health has become a very important and increasingly important topic in our world today. With a closer focus on what causes depression, Joseph El-Khoury uses his study to also identify and examine what affects the use of social media and the internet can have on a young adults’ mental health. Psychiatric morbidity was defined as having a diagnosis of major depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), etc. In his article introduction, Joseph El-Khoury has a section dedicated to “Social media use and metal health”. He addresses how psychiatric morbidity has been associated with internet addiction. Also including a statistic about how 4.5% of adolescents were found to be at risk of problematic social media use. He then goes on to talk about “social media addiction was associated with low self-esteem, poor life satisfaction, and sleep disturbances. By connecting his study and article to mental health and how the use of social media and the addiction with it can lead to social media disorders and mental health problems in adolescents. Continuing in this section, he writes about how in order for extreme social media use to qualify as a ‘use disorder’, it requires observation of the set of signs and symptoms consistent with all addictive behaviors. Tolerance, withdrawal, conflict, salience, and relapse were all examined, and then he uses the help of Young’s Internet Addiction Test (IAT) and the Bergan Social Media Addiction Scale (BSMAS)to show how these symptoms have been seen in individuals. At the end, “of all the symptoms normally associated with dependence, withdrawal following the interruption or social media use was the most prominent” (El-Khoury). He implements other resources in order to draw attention to how the dependence on social media is evident in and that the problem with social media and addiction is real. His way of drawing attention to a popular problem that is drawing a lot of attention at the time is important in the overall impact and persuasion that his scientific article does. Another way the author has success in this article is by demonstrating his credibility. Not only does he do a study to identify the problem and its impacts, but he also incorporated other tests like the Internet Addiction Test (IAT) and Bergan Social Media Addiction Scale (BSMAS). He uses these tests for the same reason that you need evidence at a trial, it is very hard to just simply trust someone, if they are to present evidence proving their point, you have no choice but to trust them because their side can be supported. By having evidence and demonstrating his credibility and not simply depending on the reader to trust him, Joseph El-Khoury is successful in his scientific article.

Joseph El-Khoury, although writing a scientific article meant to shine light on the problem of social media addiction, successfully uses many strategies in order to persuade the reader. In order to persuade a reader or audience, you need to influence them. Influence is defined as “the capacity to have an effect on the character, development, or behavior of someone or something, or the effect itself “(Oxford). Mr. El-Khoury succeeds in this way by having the impact on someone’s behavior. Because he wrote a scientific journal, he does not have the ability to come out and tell the audience his opinion, instead he uses the data from his study to give his topic evidence. For example, he writes about how after or during a period of social media detoxification, students experienced improved sleep, reduced anxiety, and a positive change in mood. By using his study, he gives the audience a reason to trust him, an important part to why he is successful with his article. An author can write a scientific article about whatever they want the same way that someone can make a claim, but without evidence to support said topic and claim, the audience has no reason to believe what the author is saying. By using other official and scientific tests and providing his results, he successfully persuades his audience. Finally, the audience needs to have a reason or connection with the topic of the article. And with the intended audience being other scholars, students, and other people struggling with social media addiction in one way or another, each of them has a connection to the topic. The scholars want to learn more about the topic in order to form their own opinions and use it to write their own articles, while students and other people can implement strategies discussed in the article to help themselves with their social media addiction. By using a relatable topic to his intended audience and providing evidence to give himself credibility Joseph El-Khoury succeeds in teaching and persuading his audience.

This scientific article written by Joseph El-Khoury using evidence from his own study, this peer-reviewed article is accessible and useful not only for the targeted audience of other scholars, but also for the secondary audience of students and young adults examining the affects of social media addiction and detoxification.

Works Cited

El-Khoury, Joseph, et al. “Characteristics of Social Media ‘Detoxification’ in University Students.” Libyan Journal of Medicine, vol. 16, no. 1, Dec. 2021, pp. 1–7. EBSCOhost, https://doi.org/10.1080/19932820.2020.1846861.