A. In Thompson’s article, “Public Thinking,” I think that it is apparent that he thinks of online writing or blogging as eye-opening and worth the effort. He uses the term “public thinking” in a positive connotation, ultimately arguing that it improves memory, connections, and other cognitive abilities. Overall, it can be inferred that Thompson sees the best in online or public communication and thinking. Furthermore, in Thompson’s article, “I’m So Totally, Digitally Connected To You,” he shares many examples and quotes from students who were using Facebook at the time of the “News Feed” change. A big concern for the Facebook users at this time was privacy. They felt that their right to privacy was being taken with the development of the News Feed. Despite the students’ fears, it can be concluded that Thompson was in favor of this change. He acknowledges the change in privacy, but also provides positive information on the change.
B. A claim from “Public Thinking” that I can identify with would be the idea of “audience effect” (Thompson 54). I can agree that completing a task or publishing something on your own can have setbacks such as laziness or carelessness. When doing tasks in front of a group, I often do much better. In addition, an idea that I relate to from “I’m So Totally, Digitally Connected To You” is that although lack of privacy is a scary topic, it is true that with the internet and social platforms we can learn more about ourselves. I have learned so many things about myself and the way others perceive me through social platforms. Because of this, I have also been able to adjust and change the things that I don’t necessarily like about myself. It has made me very self-aware.
C. The text that I found more interesting would be “Public Thinking” because I had never thought of online writing in this light before. I have my confusions about some of the content provided, however, much of it made sense. We are given the platforms to publically think and communicate; why not use it?
D. I can’t pinpoint a particular strength or weakness, however, I can say that there are multiple sides to every viewpoint. Thompson seemed to only express the positives of online communication in his articles when factually, there are a lot of negatives. I think that ultimately a weakness would be not addressing the negatives of it all.
E. In some of the quotes given by students or some scientists, we can see opposing viewpoints of Thompson. However, Thompson always rebuts it with his positive point of view on the topic. I think that Thompson feels very passionate about his opinions on this matter which make his rebuttals very persuasive.
Caitlyn Bettenhausen 
Hello, I agree that privacy is a terrifying topic because it is unknown to most of us. I gave up using social media because of privacy concerns, a cousin of mine was called using my name asking for money and my cousin gave him quite a sum. It was not until my cousin called my grandmother that she let me know and I realized how organized crime can use platforms to cause great harm and ever since, I have stayed out of social media with the exception of Instagram where I find memes and share them with my closest friends. In resume, I do think privacy is not thought alongside crime and disagree in the positive claims that Thompson uses in regard to change because I don’t think social media is positive as long as it is for profit.
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