Speech 04: Persuasive Speech

Susan Argyle
Submitted to Professor Billington
COMM 1020-F16
Speech 4: Persuasive Speech
11/10/2016
Persuasive Speech: Audience Assessment
Specific Goal:

My audience will believe that the less facebook they use, the better.

Type of Claim: This is a claim of fact

Ethos: Primary Ethos:
a) Competence: I didnt use facebook for 19 months.
b) Fairness: We will take a look at those arguments for and against consistent use of
Facebook.
Secondary Ethos: I will cite three authoritative references in my speech.
Audience Assessment: Most of my audience members will probably have an attitude toward my
proposition that is highly favorable.
Adaptation to Audience Attitude:
a. Common ground: to create common ground I will emphasize that everybody uses facebook,
myself included.
b. Latitude of acceptance: My audience will accept my proposition because a lot of people feel
guilty when they spend copious amounts of time online. This speech will capitalize on their guilt to
push them toward lessening their facebook activity.
Baby Steps: My proposition isnt to STOP all facebook activity, but to lessen it, little by little.
The first step is consciously deciding to make a change.
Pattern of Organization: topical.

***************************************************************************
Persuasive Speech: Outline
More Facebook a Day keeps Happiness at Bay
Introduction
I. Hook Facebook. By a show of hands, who here has a Facebook? Id say most of us do. Its pretty
common to have one, but Facebook may be having adverse effects on us. Would quitting Facebook
improve our happiness? I quit for 19 months, and it changed my perspective.
III. Proposition (or Hint at Proposition): Today Id like to explore the idea of lessening our time spent
on Facebook, & why it would be good for us.
IV. Preview: We will cover
1. What Facebook use for the average Joe or Jane looks like,
2. Why it is detrimental to our well being, and
3. Effects of lessening Facebook useage.
Transition: Now the average American spends more time on social media than one would think.
Body
I.

A.
B.
C.

According to Statisa.com, on average, we spend about 118 minutes a day on social media
(President, 2016).
50 minutes of said time is spent on Facebook.
Maybe that doesnt sound like much, but there are only 24 hours in a day, and the average
person sleeps for 8.8 of them this means that more than one sixteenth of the average user's
waking time is spent on Facebook.

Transition: What is all that time on Facebook doing to us?

II.

According the The New York Times, technology & Facebook makes us more alone. (J. 2016).
A.
B.

We find ourselves surrounded by people who are staring at their screens instead of having
face to face conversations.
www.psychologytoday.com cited seven reason why Facebook is detrimental to our wellbeing.
(7 Ways Facebook Is Bad for Your Mental Health).
It can make you feel like your life isnt as cool as everyone elses.
It can lead you to envy your friends successes.
It can lead to a sense of false consensus.
It can keep you in touch with people youd really rather forget.
It can reveal information you might not want to share with potential employers.
It can become addictive.
It can make you jealous of your current partner.

Transition: So why should you lessen your Facebook useage?

III.
IV.
V.

I didnt get on Facebook for almost 19 months & I felt great!

According to Inc.coms article entitled 5 Ways Quitting Facebook Will Improve Your Mental Health,
we wont be as depressed or jealous anymore if we lessen our time spent on Facebook. (Walton,
2016)
Youll have more time to actually live in real life if you stop living online.
Conclusion:
I. Signal speech is coming to an End: In conclusion,

II. Summarize main points: We spend significant amounts of time on Facebook every day. This is
proving to be detrimental to our health and happiness, & Its been proven that there are real benefits to
spending less time on Facebook.
III. Reiterate the thesis: The more time we spend off of Facebook, the better off well be. Well be more
happy, less jealous, & be able to more fully enjoy our lives.
IV. End the speech memorably: So what are you going to do about that?
V. Challenge the audience to respond: I challenge each one of you to cut your Facebook time down to
forty, thirty, or even twenty minutes. See how it affects your day. I know that doing so has made quite the
difference for me.
Works Cited:
J. (2016). Facebook Has 50 Minutes of Your Time Each Day. It Wants More. Retrieved November 10, 2016,
from http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/06/business/facebook-bends-the-rules-of-audience-engagement-toits-advantage.html
President, B. S. (n.d.). Global time spent on social media daily 2016 | Statista. Retrieved November 10,
2016, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/433871/daily-social-media-usage-worldwide/
Walton, A. G. (2016). 5 Ways Quitting Facebook Will Improve Your Mental Health. Retrieved November 10,
2016, from http://www.inc.com/alice-g-walton/5-ways-quitting-facebook-will-improve-your-mentalhealth.html

7 Ways Facebook Is Bad for Your Mental Health. Retrieved November 10, 2016, from
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/sex-murder-and-the-meaning-life/201404/7-ways-facebook-is-badyour-mental-health