“Ditch Your Laptop, Dump Your Boyfriend” Textual Analysis

On your way to your first year in college and in the car/plane are you really thinking of what was just told to you by your parents? No! Your listening to the older kids talk about the parties, easiness of classes, all the hot girls/boys that the school has to offer, and the different types of clubs/organizations that you can join to meet people, oh and let’s not forget about the dorms and who is getting a apartment. College is a huge change for 99% of the incoming freshmen. They don’t really know what to expect so they pretty much just listen to what most the older students or graduates have to tell them. So many students have so much to hear from so many different people old and young but what is more helpful than getting advice from current students who have already gone through the exact same thing you are about to go through! This article does exactly that and helps out the incomers with some helpful tips and advice in different views.

These six different writers have a lot to say from getting more involved with organizations and research projects to stepping out of your inner bubble and explore the real world. Then we have the extreme writers who talk about dumping your boyfriend/girlfriend and meet new people and go to parties and explore the dorms to find people you like talking to. Each individual writer has so much important information to say but at the end of reading each of their articles it came down to one thing. That all the incoming freshmen should just be open to new things and be friendly to meeting new people may it be on campus life or outside of it. The six writers are trying to make a impact on the students be letting them know about their own first year college experiences.

Throughout the whole piece I noticed how each of the writers has their own ways in making their point. Rebecca and Christine approach the readers in a calm way talking about how leaving the old behind and in with the new is a good thing for incoming freshmen to start college.  Willie talks about how students should take time away from school and campus life because from the demands of school work and social life you should just have some time where you can just get away and do something different that doesn’t involved anything to do with school. When it comes to humor and a lot of personal opinion about college Tim takes the stage in really getting to a friend level with the readers. Aman talks about throughout the article how research is a good way to meet new people and help other in college.  Finally Evan talks about how the incoming students may not have the whole future planned out with majors and all and its definitely ok because “nobody does”. Even though we see different opinions in all these writers we come to the bottom line of how each is trying to make a helping input in incoming students lives.

The intended audiences in this piece are incoming freshmen who may be struggling getting used to the new setting and what not. Especially helps in the idea of students who are just overwhelmed and confused with the overall concept of college. The writers build a strong friendly relationship with the readers because they have already gone through the same situations so there giving helpful tips and advice that doesn’t seem like a lecture. But at the same time since mostly older folks read the New York Times and not the average incoming freshmen It was probably geared towards parents of students who can share the article with their children or help the parents cope with what the student will be going through.

The whole point behind this article is to really let both students and parents know what’s going on and open there eyes. So they can understand that college is more than just staying in your room and studying all night, more like having a goodtime learning new things, meeting new people. This article will help student relieve some stress and some parents understand what’s going on and give some breathing room to their incoming freshmen. All the writers brief you with their own advice and opinions so the students can have a better and more successful college experience which will bring them to the real world and how to go about it. Life is full of changes its how we go about it that makes them important.

Works Cited:

Novikoff, Tim, Willie X. Lin, Aman Singh Gill, Christine Smallwood, Evan LaLonde, and Rebecca Elliot. “Ditch Your Laptop, Dump Your Boyfriend.” The New York Times 26 Sept. 2010: 12. Print.