Persuasive Speech- To the graduating class of 2011

A/N: Hey guys, so I just wanted to post this persuasive speech I had to write for my Writer's Craft class. I think speeches are a pain in the ass to write...you do not want to know how long I've worked on it, and it isn't even how I expected it to be...

To the graduating class of 2011,

School is out. You are literally running home because you wrote on his wall and you’re waiting for a response, ASAP. You have two assignments due tomorrow, one of which you didn’t bother starting, but you don’t care. The only thing on your mind is his reply and whether or not he logged on at 2:00AM yesterday to see your wall post.

How many of us face with the following situation? How many of us suffer from this distraction get our homework completed on time?

We’re graduating this year. Marks matter, so social life can take a ride in the backseat for the next couple of months. We’re trying to make something out of ourselves, get accepted into good universities, win scholarships, attend open houses, etc.

The problem with this networking addiction is that no matter how hard we try, it cannot go away.  The desire to get back on track is gone, erased with the distraction of social networking. What we need is to focus, collect our thought and set into action. This doesn’t mean turning off our laptops, or plugging the internet wire off. That’s ridiculous, and it doesn’t work. What this means is to simply cut an hour or two from Facebook or MSN or whatever else we use as a form of communication. What this means is doing our homework first and then enjoying chatting with our friends without feeling guilty about it.

Did you know that today’s social networking has made us illiterate, less intelligent? Talk about teachers being disappointed with our English skills; we can’t even spell the word ‘you’ anymore. This year isn’t about who can post the most on their ‘wall’ or who can come up with the shortest words ever created. It’s about educating ourselves; discovering our identities; exploring what we’re really capable of.

Recently, talking, and yes, I mean face to face interaction, has become a dying language, an important element that is our duty to bring back and work on. Social networking has damaged and destroyed our self-confidence and our freedom of expression. We’ve become so dependent on it that we’ve lost all sense of control and balance. When was the last time we’ve talked back without caring? When was the last time we’ve expressed ourselves in front of everyone without feeling letting it feel like performing in front of a crowd of a thousand?

It’s in our hands to change adults’ view of us.  We can’t accomplish that if all we do is sit and write on each other’s’ walls’ and ‘like’ each other’s pictures. Real life doesn’t have walls and like buttons. We won’t be commenting on our employers’ ‘wall’ and ‘liking’ their videos. Instead, we will be talking to them, expressing ourselves with our mouths, moving our hands, sharing knowledge, not through our fingers but through our voices. Don’t let social networking get in your way to accomplish your dreams and goals. Don’t get sucked into the wrong hole with no means of escape.

Let’s bring home those shinning A's and university acceptances, washing our parents’ faces with nothing but pride. Let’s stop being fooled to believe how great social networking is and the wonders that it brings. Let’s start to communicate language through talking and speaking, and bring back that dying art that was once lost.
It’s our responsibility to show everyone that we are serious and ready for everything that will be thrown at us; because we are smart, intelligent, young individuals. We are the future generation of this country, and we will succeed.

A/N: Was this convincing enough? I had so much to write but I was limited on the word length, again!