Anna Gospodarek

April 9th, 2022

English 101, Tuesday- Thursday, 9:30 am-10:45 am

University of Wisconsin, Whitewater

The internet is a versatile machine, that's been constantly pumping out a

seeminglyn endless amount of information since the early 90s. With this constant stream

of new and exciting things happening on the web, it’s only natural that people would turn

to it andto explore its endless wonders. PeopleStrangers would gather on open forums

and chat for hours discussing a variety of topics from sharing recipes, to discussing space

exploration and even making new friendships. What was once simply a dream had

become a reality. It was a golden age, but the grand scope of the internet was still small

compared to what it is now. Like anything else in life, the internet was changing rapidly.

I, it was now turning into a massive beast, and posting on websites becamenline became

much more complicated. Gone were the days of posting onto small discussion forums,

free to leave whenever you pleased. nNow you hadve the entire world watching your life

at every moment, and it’s important to make a good first impression. every move no

matter how mundane it might be. Life on the web became intertwined with life in the real

world and at some point, they became the same thing. The internet had become

synonymous with our individual identity, and according to Jia Tolentino “we were now

chained to ourselves online, and this made us self-conscious.” The issue, however, is not

with how these various websites function, but rather the people we’ve become through

using it in the attempt to appear our best selves to strangers on the internet.
“The I in the internet” is an online article written by Jia Tolentino that mainly focuses on

how rapidly the internet has shifted in the past decade. Using her own experience with

“Web 1.0” as she calls it, Tolentino creates a narrative storyline that begins with her very

first post on the internelinet up until today. She presents the idea that we’ve become so

intertwined with the internet that we’ve handed over our individual freedom and have

willingly chained ourselves to the internet for the sake of feeling included, which in turn

creates a seemingly endless cycle where we now feel more insecure. Tolentino goes on to

point out several other common flaws that people present on the internet, ones that rarely

anyone is immune to. She references “virtue signaling” which in summary is the practice

of publicly expressing opinions with the purpose to show how good your character is by

saying these things out loud. But in reality, this action is a small one in the grand scheme

of things and all it really serves to do is to make you look better online. Tolentino seeks

to give readers a reality check and inform us that no one is immune to these things

despite the “holier than thou” approach that many people attempt to take. In doing this

it’s apparent that Tolentino also takes a few jabs at this new mindset of internet dwellers.

She draws attention to this by stating “ You don’t end up using a news story about a dead

toddler as a peg for white entitlement without a society in which the discourse of

righteousness occupies far more public attention than the conditions that necessitate

righteousness in the first place.” It summarizes how warped our morality becomes online

when we lose sight of the bigger picture. It seems like an insane example, but using a

jarring scenario is more likely to stick with readers.

Tolentino uses informal language in order to appeal to readers, rather than

presenting this piece as if she is a step above the reader she is maintaining that she is on
the same level that we are when reading it. She makes several jabs at people putting up

appearances on the internet and reinforces that she too, has done these things. Now that

the writer and the audience are on the same page she can use her credibility as “one of

us” to make bolder statements that we are inclined to agree with. She proceeds to use

more articulate language later on in the paper, using. She uses more complex wording to

create the sense that we’re now getting into the meat of the paper and that it’s time to get

serious. Tolentino never uses language that is too difficult to follow,understand, often she

uses several real-world examples to get the point across before elaborating with her own

words. In doing this it makes the paper much more palpable and easier to read in one

sitting, while also getting the most out of the readingarticle.

The usage of quotations and metaphors is also very prevalent in this paper. To

ensure credibility Tolentino uses quotes from several other prevalentreliable sources

writers to add to her point. By using these quotes to back up her claims, not only do they

add more context to the pointsinitial argument that Tolentino is making but it once again

leads the reader to consider this paper as a professional source of information, especially

when big names like the New York Times just added in with no other relevance to the

paper. are named dropped. Having a well-known source even being mentioned in the

paper allows us to believe what she is saying more. Essentially she has curated a list of

very smart and credited people and has shown them to you as if to say “ look at how

smart these people are, and if they say it, it should be assumed that it’s probably

rightcorrect.” Tolentino utilizes several different metaphors and analogies to make the

reading more interesting. She also utilizes visual language to emphasize how magical the
internet appeared at first, and then slowly transitions to using more blunt language. This

suggests that the internet has become a lot less magical to us, despite using it every day.

Often times when reading sources such as these they can become dull through stiff and

superficial language, but it’s almost entirely worked around in this piece’s not an issue in

this reading., It instead feels like having a deep conversation with a colleague, which is

ultimately more desirable than listening to someone drone on for hours.

Credibility and engagement have been large elements in the effectiveness of this

paper, without these two things and the clever usage of quotations, metaphors, and

analogies it provides a fully introspective and analytical paper. Each point is carried

through personal experience and uses examples that anyone can relate to. Addressing

how strangely some people behave on the internet and then admitting to doing some of

the same things also allows the readers to trust the author. We are shown that this person

is trying to convince us of something that they themselves have fallen victim to as well.

By demonstrating this vulnerability we can connect with the author and allow ourselves

to take their argument into moremore into consideration. It truly shows, that being

genuine on the internet can have additional benefits that faking it can’t replicate. add to

your influence and that we don’t have to remain the same “ angry people obsessed with

their own representation”