Often in modern life, technology is being created to improve our lives, make a task easier or more efficient, or simply, to entertain us. However, technology is now replacing life and being social with the latest cell phone, computer, or gaming system. This new technology is getting in the way of life, and is robbing everyone of solitude, as it constantly disrupts thoughts, ideas, and flow of life. In the articles, "The Cost Of Paying Attention", by Matthew B. Crawford, and "The Joy Of Quiet", by Pico Iyer, the authors present their view of the benefits of “unplugging” from technology, and escaping from the internet and cell phones, that are destroying the way of the life. The Joy Of Quiet was more effective at conveying this message about how technology is disrupting life and solitude, as its language and craft were strong, and its claim and evidence were far superior to those in The Cost Of Paying Attention.
   

In the article, The Joy Of Quiet, the author’s claim is essential to the piece, as it provides the groundwork for what is said later in the article. The claim in the article was that the internet and new technology is replacing life and robbing us of our solitude due to us always being “plugged in.” In the article, the author provides a large quantity of statistics that help him support his claim. The author begins the passage with a personal anecdote, about how he met with a famous writer, graphic designer, and fashion designer in Singapore, and how the thing the chief executive of the agency was most interested in was stillness, not some next-generation technological device. The author moves on to describe, how some of the nicest, most expensive hotels in the world are the “black-hole resorts”, where there is no internet connection, and people can just “unplug.” In the article, there were many facts about the disturbingly massive amount of time people spend connected to their devices, such as that the average American spends at least 8 and a half hours a day in front of a screen, or that the average teenager receives or sends 75 texts a day. After that, the author brings up a very interesting study that occurred at Intel in 2007. In that study, Intel experimented with four hours of interrupted time every day at work, meaning that there would be no cell phones, computer, email, or anything electronical. After the study, many of Intel’s employees recommended that this policy should be extended to other. The author later describes how everyone is in such a rush to do everything, and everyone is on their personal devices too much to realize how little time we actually have. Overall, the author’s claim and evidence were very strong, as he provided sturdy statistics, ideas, and anecdotes to back up the author’s claim.
   

In the article, the author’s tone plays a large role in the meaning and message of it. The author’s tone in the article is urgent, as he constantly reminds the reader that we don’t have enough time. In the author’s thoughts and ideas in the article, a strong sense of urgency is present, as he provides many statistics and studies to show us that we are wasting the precious time that we have. In addition, he also gives off a sense of urgency that we need to stop using our technological devices before they replace life itself and destroy solitude. Overall, the author’s tone of urgency in the article helps enhance his claim and evidence.

 The other article, The Cost Of Paying Attention, also brings up a strong claim and supporting evidence about the negative effects that this new technology has on our life. In the article, the author’s claim is that the internet is making us absent in life, as we keep to ourselves and personal devices, instead of being social. In addition, the author references our attention as an important resource, and we are wasting it on this new technology. The author provides a variety of evidence, mainly personal anecdotes about how technology is increasingly seeping into his life and polluting it. He later compares the technology in our life to former communist countries, citing the similarities in the absentness in both. The author went into great detail about how formerly communist countries are often absent from society, as their government has been destroyed, and their concepts of no public-spiritedness have left everyone alone. The author then compares the new technology in our lives with that, as it is pulling us out of society, and making us absent. Although this article had a strong claim and convincing evidence, the other article was stronger due to its superior claim and evidence. The article, The Cost Of Paying Attention, argues mostly about how technology is pulling us out of life, while the other article has a better claim about how the internet is replacing life, not allowing us to have solitude. In addition, the evidence in The Joy Of Quiet is much stronger, as it is statistical as opposed to personal anecdotes. Overall, The Joy Of Quiet is a more effective article.
   

The Joy Of Quiet was more effective at conveying this message about how technology is disrupting life and solitude, as its language and craft were strong, and its claim and evidence were far superior to those in The Cost Of Paying Attention. As both articles described, new technology is taking over our lives, and robbing us of our solitude. As both warned, we need to stop before it is too late, as this technology has disrupted our flow of life, and robbed humans of solitude, as everyone is constantly connected.