Question

In the article, "In Praise of a Snail's Pace" what is the main idea or thesis?

Answer 1

Answer:

She believes that an individual can either give full attention to a task or stop taking it because giving it partial attention does not make meaning. To prove her argument, Goodman uses the example of a five-year-old child with too much sugar in his body yet he is taking more than one task, thanks to technology.

In this case, the child crashes and falls into a deep sleep due to exhaustion, which displays the negative impact of technology. This example presents the idea that the ability to slow things down and focus on a given task at a time is a human virtue that should be emulated.

In addition, Goodman expresses her disappointment in her letter, which results from her observation that modern people are caught up with little devices and computers such that they forget their personalities and emotions.

She is disappointed because most people in the modern society have allowed technology to take control of their lives, while snail mail and its meanings are quickly fading away. Due to lack of authenticity in communication, the world is quickly falling apart.Explanation:

In her opening paragraphs, the author uses the framing device as an anecdote setting, which helps her to outline and set the mood for the entire argument. Goodman believes that handwritten letters are authentic and sentimental compared to emails.

Communication than handwritten letter, the author attempts to show that the same technology tears people apart because individuals do not mean what they say when communicating through these technologies.

From her experience, Goodman says that lack of meaning and truthfulness in communication through technologies is common because people tend to do things fast without giving much thought to what they are doing. She argues that this is due to human inability to giver partial attention to a given task.