Question

Help?

Read the argument excerpt related to teen use of smartphones and answer the question that follows:

People on either side of the smartphones-for-teens debate can't agree on the evidence. Sure, there's proof of cyber bullying. There's also proof of educational benefits. Yet nothing is conclusive, so no valid judgment can be made for everyone on whether smartphones should be banned from teens. Anyone supporting such a restriction is naïve and uniformed. He or she is reacting from emotion instead of using his or her brain to study all the evidence and make a decision specific to his or her own teen. The bottom line is it's up to parents to be parents. Why spend billions of dollars on trying to stop cyber bullying or explore educational apps? It's probably just another human assumption that we can control the technology we've created. Trying is a waste of time and money.

Which of the following is true about this argument excerpt?

It is respectful in tone to the audience and supports its claim with specific, credible evidence.

It contains specific, credible evidence but uses a disrespectful tone that should be edited.

It fails to support its claim with specific, credible evidence and uses a disrespectful tone.

It uses a respectful tone but needs specific, credible evidence to support the claim.

Answer 1

It's probably the 3rd answer. It calls out those who want to ban smartphones and doesn't say where the the statements used in this excerpt come from. For example, it says that parents spend billions of dollars trying to stop cyber-bullying, but the excerpt doesn't say where this info came from.

Answer 2

It uses a respectful tone but needs specific, credible evidence to support the claim.
There is no credible evidence. The paragraph sounds more like the author is annoyed with the argument. While the author does call out parents and tells people they are using emotion to cloud their judgment, the author doesn't name call or shame anyone so I wouldn't say it uses a disrespectful tone.