Rhetorical Analysis
If Technology is Making Us Stupid, It’s Not Technology’s Fault

In his article “If Technology Is Making Us Stupid, It’s Not Technology’s Fault,” David Theo Goldberg effectively informs the reader about the effects that computers in the home and school environment could have on the future education of the coming generations. Goldberg achieves this by executing defined organization and adding unique comparisons about the potentially crippling effects technology can have on a society when put into the wrong hands. Goldberg approaches the organization of his article in such a way that he is able to progress his opinion in a slow enough pace to address all major points, including who society blames as the problem and
This Goldberg says is what the computer and internet are intended to do also. Goldberg’s comparison of the expectations of the past and the reality of today was the strongest in showing his point. His comparison that the old philosophy of reading the “classic” literature and having the vast understanding of the past is just that, a thing of the past (Goldberg, 2010). He shows the reader that our idea of what should be an acceptable amount of old world reading should be advancing with the times and our understanding of what is needed in this world to succeed is not the same as that of sixty years ago. This is effective in bringing the old world fears that the audience might be experiencing up to the twenty-first century reality that times are changing. Goldberg’s comparisons effectively prove his point by showing that yes what these researchers are saying could potentially be true but if used responsibly and monitored the computers could be a huge stepping stone to success. The important choice of organization and the comparisons to other successful leaps of societal faith really display the beliefs of Goldberg himself. The clear depiction allows the audience to fully understand that there is truth to what the researchers and skeptics are saying about the potential dangers