Matt Richtel is a very thoughtful and concise writer. He uses
multiple angles and perspectives to cultivate a very thorough and
modern essay that analyses his specific argument and sheds light on
areas that would have been left in the shadows had they not been
brought to the attention of the readers of this essay. He utilizes stasis
and kairos theories to their upmost potential by answering some
incredibly important questions throughout the essay. Is his concern
about technology even relevant? He proves it. He shows awareness for
his audience by addressing controversial questions as well as
awareness for the rhetoric in general by gleaning on certain ideals of
all sides to his argument. All this he employed through the Kairos
theory, which he most likely learned about through his education and
practice- probably while he was preparing to write this powerful and
influential essay. This gives us a hint at what an educated man Matt
Ritchel is and shows that he really took his time preparing to write a
successful article that is informative and leaves the reader questioning
his or her own lifestyle. Ritchel also employs the stasis theory to
effectively drive his argument. He brings up controversial topics that
readers might use against him- and Ritchel agrees with them. Ritchel
mainly focuses on the fact that technology can be too addictive, it has
rewired our brains so that we want things instantaneously but he
admits it has also transformed our lives for the better.

Matt outlines his beliefs on the addiction to modern cell phones,
computers and televisions through the (as previously said insanely well
thought out guidelines discussed in the above paragraph) stasis and
kairos theories. Is Matt's argument solid? Well, that is, in reality, for
you to decide but I am here to tell you most ardently that yes, this
argument IS solid and he does an excellent job tackling and explaining
the delicacies of his topic and argument, like a two-in-one package. He
describes unabashedly that technology takes away from important
time with family and sometimes limits healthy human interaction.
Ritchel uses the example of a Mr. Campbell who is a very successful
person- he receives about three hundred emails a day and he glanced
over one of the most important ones of his career- a three million dollar
offer. He didn't notice it in his inbox until twelve days later. Mr.
Campbell also has a hard time unplugging from his devices- at home
he rarely looks up from his phone. He is constantly checking email,
playing video games, or surfing online. His daughter joked that he
loved technology more than his family. You get everything for free in
this essay because it comes without struggle to contemplate what Matt
is sayings; he just says it- we all are heavily addicted to technology
and it can be detrimental for our personal relationships- it can also
keep us from exercising. He does not overcomplicate his ideas. He
works hard develop your knowledge on the controversy and diversity
of the topic and argument he is presenting. He also expands his
audience's knowledge by offering up background information on actual
victims of the negatives and positives of his topic/argument. This is an
enlightening thing because typically an author will give you what he
wants to you think; but Ritchel gives you every angle because he, as a
writer, genuinely wants you to decide for yourself, based on all the
proof and backup for all the different possible stances to take; which
stance will you take based on the information he's given you. Because
Matt has asked the reader these questions, rhetorically and given them
all the necessary information to answer, I believe his argument is not
only successful, it's extraordinarily on point with the times.

Ritchel, again, talks about his good friend, Kord Campbell's
experience with being overly occupied by mass amounts of information
that technology was streaming to him and how that affected his life.
Matt's argument, if you cannot already tell at this point, is 'hooked on
technology and paying a price'. He proposes that we, as modern day
humans who all live in a world that thrives on technology, are all
helplessly hooked, enormously benefited by it and simultaneously
disadvantaged by it as it regenerates all of our lives through the
renewing of our brains and transformation of our worldly skills.

He first and foremost talks about these benefits and issues within
the realm of business. The first example which I am pointing back to
now illustrates the carelessness we can all acquire through our
addiction if we are not careful. The beautiful and dangerous thing
about technology is that it allows us to be lazy and has enormous
amounts of freedom which simultaneously making us less grateful and
more likely to complain about how much we have on our plates. Kord
Campbell's experience with an overlooked email is the perfect picture
of what I just explained above. What happened to him was that he
overlooked the most important email of his life because the mass load
of information that technology was providing him with and it caused
him to be lazy and not open up every email to make sure it wasn't of
importance to him. Well, the one he missed was important, if fact, it
was a notification from another competing company that they wished
to purchase the company he had up on the market for over a million
dollars. He overlooked this vital message for not only a day' . But for
twelve whole days he did not give them a response, which, had he
opened it, it would have been an immediately positive return email,
accepting the deal of a lifetime. That is the negative angle.
Multitaskers tend to be unable to block out unnecessary information
from the important information- this was Kord's mistake- he was trying
to accomplish too much on a daily basis.

The positive angle to a mass load of information is that anything
you could every possibly want to know is in this world, is merely a
google search away. All the information of the world is at your
fingertips; you are constantly informed; of anything and everything.
Because of this technology has rewired our brains to take all more
efficient routes of living. Every time we notice something mundane in
our lives, someone invents something to minimize our efforts so we
can spend more time in life doing the things we love. Technology is the
fabric of who we are because our entire lives revolve around it;
communication,
entertainment,
transportation,
information,
enlightenment and so many more. It has completely and entirely
renewed the way to think and react to everything in life. Therefore, we
cannot live without it. Technology is an amazing gift that we need to
take and mold into the perfect and completely un-abusive tool. The
fact that we get too distracted by our phones and run into trees is the
negative point Ritchel is trying to touch on. Or the fact that we miss
deal making emails. Or the fact that we get too distracted from our
families. At the end of the day, however, we could not survive our
wonderfully modern times without the beautiful gift of technology, and
we wouldn't want to. We just need to figure out an ideal balance of life
and cyber space because too much of a good thing is never a good
thing.

