Social Networking

That final paper you want from me.          

Social networking is constantly evolving, and has a continuously increasing impact on our lives. The social networks have forums for communication, debate, entertainment and tons of other stuff, and is still constantly inheriting a growing number of fields. Social networks have managed to make lots of things easier accessible than ever before, and has due to that become an inevitable part of contemporary societies. More and more news-providers, stores, political platforms etc. are seemingly attempting to adapt to this relatively new way of communicating. It seems like adapting to the modern technology-determined, lifestyle is the only logical path contemporary societies are going to take, which is also one of the main viewpoints in the short story ‘’That final paper you want from me’’ by Polly Frost.

‘’That final paper you want from me’’ is a fictional letter, in which the sender, Sabrina McEvoy, reproaches the teacher and receiver ‘’Dr. Pettit’’ for not admiring nor even accepting social networking as a relevant topic in the subject she teaches in. The letter consists of four sarcastic suggestions of relevant social networking sites, that also has relevance compared to some of Dr. Pettit’s viewpoints. Sabrina McEvoy attacks Dr. Pettit for being under the impression that ‘’composition is about nothing but text’’ (P. 1 l. 11). McEvoy writes that composition has evolved, and yet consists of both graphics, photos, a cool layout and emoticons. She claims that the former type of composition – only consisting of text – is outdated, and that it has become too boring for her generation, to work with texts of that design.

According to the composition of the text, it makes sense to divide the information into six bits. The letter starts with an introduction, in which the reader gets introduced to the conflict and the sender and receiver. The introduction seems surprisingly informal and disrespectful, considering it being a letter of complaint and a final term assignment, from a student to a teacher. The introduction also teases us about the additional content of the letter/assignment.

 The next part, titled ‘’Hashing it over’’, presents the first of four sarcastic suggestions for social networks; which is a forum for girls who want to discuss day-to-day issues over and over.

The third part, titled ‘’Empty Nesters’’, introduces the second social network; a platform like Facebook, but only for elderly people.

The fourth part, titled ‘’Not telling you the name of this one’’, presents the third social network; a secret chatroom, only for Sabrina McEvoy’s, and perfect for sharing wild stuff, without risking that some of the people you share it with ‘’might turn out to be someone you’re hoping will hire you’’ (P. 5 L. 4)

The fifth part, titled ‘’F2F’’, presents the fourth and last suggestion for a social network; a platform where old people can schedule get-togethers.