Read & Annotate Chapter 6 of They Say/I Say: “Skeptics May Object”: Planting a Naysayer in Your Text. Then, copy a paragraph from your free draft in which you present a clear argument. Paste into an ePortfolio Post and practice planting a naysayer (or skeptic) in that paragraph. Then respond to that naysayer within your paragraph utilizing information you gathered from reading the chapter. Post the revised paragraph as “Naysayer Response” to your ePortfolio.

Social media is able to create friendships and acquaintances as we see in Adrian Chen’s “Unfollow” article. We begin to read and learn more about Megan Phelps-Roper, her journey to leave the church and the people she met along the way. This was all possible because of Phelps-Roper’s social media usage on twitter. We see her connection with Adrian Hughes, “Phelps-Roper showed him more concern than many of his real-life friends. ‘I knew there was a genuine connection between us” (Chen 11). Yet is it necessarily true that social media doesnt allow for meaningful connections as we see here? Megan Phelps-Roper wouldn’t exactly be the person I would associate myself with on social media. She in some ways had a fake personality over twitter where she was someone completely different in real life. As soon as we start to see a change in Phelps-Roper’s morals, “She told C.G. that they couldn’t talk anymore. She deleted her words with a friend’s account. C.G. deleted his twitter account” (Chen 15-16). She thought she had a genuine connection with C.G. but it was just one click and that connection was lost. Phelps-Roper never even knew his name until after she had left the church. Some readers may challenge my view by insisting that social media can create many close connections. They were lucky to be able to rekindle that connection in person, as Chen writes, “She and C.G. connected as strongly in person as they had online, and now they live together” (Chen 22). While it is true that social media can form relationships, it does not necessarily allow for these relationships to prosper without the in person connection. In this instance social media provided this connection it never would have grown to this extent without the in-person aspects.