Reading Emails Can Lead To Someone Feeling Stressed - Essay Example

Rhetorical Analysis Kostadin Kuslev and Elizabeth Dunn intend to look at the debate on whether or not reading one’s e-mails can result to some negative consequences to a person’s health. One side of the argument says that reading e-mails can lead to someone feeling stressed or emotionally drained. On the other side is the argument is that the email might not be the cause of emotional draining or stress that might result from reading email. Busier work schedules are pointed out to be the main reason behind such problems. Kostadin Kuslev and Elizabeth Dunn carried out a research in which they used 124 adults from various professions. Half of the participants were told to leave their email alerts on while the other half were told only to check their emails three times daily. After a week the participants who checked email frequently were told to check only three times while the other group was told to check frequently. All the other factors remained constant. They observed that the participants were more stressed when they were told to check their emails more frequently. Evidently, the authors aim at proving that frequent viewing on one’s email might not be healthy, but at that same time warns that it might not be an easy task. The article begins with the questions, “Is email overload, bad for you?”. This question is used at the beginning of the article with the sole reason of making sure that the readers have the question in mind as they go through the rest of the article. It is like a way through which the writers notify the readers of the article exactly what the article is going to cover. The writers proceed by admitting that the question is rather a tricky question given the fact that there have been both sides of the argument, with both sides being keen on the evidence that they give for their assertion. The use of an example, in the first paragraph helps in giving more light on the exact possible consequences of frequently reading emails. Kuslev and Dunn choose to sue experimental evidence to prove their case. Through the case study discussed in the article, Kostadin Kuslev and Elizabeth Dunn are trying to prove to their readers that their assertion is not based on some assumption but some fact that can be proved. The practical scenarios tend to attract the attention of the audience by letting them know that the argument that frequent email reading can actually lead to stress. Through the presented case study, the authors are able to bring their audience closer to accepting their argument. Despite the fact that the case study does not give any explanation of the science behind the difference, it achieves the purpose of convincing the audience that there is indeed some truth in the argument made by Kostadin Kuslev and Elizabeth Dunn. In order to achieve the purpose of the article Kuslev and Dunn chooses to appeal to the intellect of their audience by using the explanation on how the human brain work to explain the reason as to why frequent email reading might lead to stress and emotional draining. They point out to the fact that the human brain is limited to performing only one demanding task simultaneously. However, the process of switching from one task to another is not always an easy one. When the switch process takes place more frequently, human beings usually go through a sap of cognitive resources, making them less effective in the accomplishment of the tasks. At this point, the argument by Kuslev and Dunn starts to make sense since it is directly associated to the manner in which the human brain works. The authors of this article also choose to use the first persona with the aim of giving the information presented in the article more credit. People usually tend to believe in firsthand information as opposed to second hand information. For instance, the statement, “We recruited 124 adults, ranging from students to professors to physicians and I.T. workers.” This statement creates some kind of assurance to the readers that whatever information is presented in this article is something that the author had experienced and noted. The case study is presented in such a way that the readers are led to realizing that the content and observation were all made by the author. This is an implication that the authors are not reporting on some case study that was carried out by other researchers, but a case study that they were directly and actively involved in. Despite using their own case study, Kuslev and Dunn also go ahead and use statistics to prove their case. They use statistical figure and prove the extent to which these figures are in agreement with the explanation for their assertion. In the part that they want to prove that sometime frequently looking at one’s inbox might be inevitable they point out a survey that suggested that more than 55% of workers would check their inboxes at 11 (Kuslevand Dunn 1). This statistic helps in proving it is not only the observation from their case studies that support their assertion. Some of the audience might want to know if there is anything that supports this argument that supports the argument presented by Kuslev and Dunn. Therefore, the results from the surveys that are mentioned can show that there are other people who had been interested in knowing the difference that is brought about by frequent email reading and if frequent email reading can be evitable. Another notable thing about this article is the use of diction. In most cases, authors would use different dictions with the aim of depicting different moods, context and setting. In this case, the authors give the article a formal, with clear evidence that they were keen with the choice of words. Strict use of formal language is evident through the article. Given the kind of message that the authors aim at passing on to the readers, it can be concluded that the use of formal language was helpful in emphasizing the authenticity of the content of the article. The choice of sentence is most compound and complex with very few simple texts. The choice of sentence structure is brought about by the nature of information being presented by the article. Breaking up the sentences into simple might end up distorting that the authors intend on passing to the readers. The effect of this article to its readers cannot be undermined. Looking through the article, one will never fail to notice that the more they read articles the more they tend to agree with the writers. At the introductory level, a reader might only be aware of the writer’s assertion, but might not necessarily agree with whatever the article is asserting. However, the use the herein writing strategies that writers are able to make sure that there can convince a majority of their readers of the facts behind their assertion. Given the choice of using illustration in the form of a case study, readers get the impression that the writers are actually aware of what they are talking about. It does not end there. The writers give a logical explanation for the observation that they made during the case study. This further proves that they actually have evidence beyond reasonable doubt that they are well informed on matters relating to how the human brain works. The use of secondary sources further helps in increasing the credibility of their assertion. Someone reading the article will get the impression that they are not the only people who believe that frequent reading of emails might have some effect the performance and emotional status of human beings. The fact that the authors decide to be formal when it comes to the choice of the word also tells that they intended the readers to see the seriousness behind the issue. Use of first person helps in showing the extent to which they were directly involved in the collection of the information presented in the article. All these strategies make the article successful in convincing readers that frequent email reading might have negative effects to people. Work cited Kuslev , Kostadin and Elizabeth Dunn. “Stop Checking Email So Often.” The New York Times, 2015. Read More