“Smart phones and social media expand our universe. We can connect with others or collect information easier and faster than ever.” This mindset towards the ever growing realm of technology is one its users tend to take on. Social media allows instant connection with almost anybody anywhere. While a social media filled world has had its benefits, the “art form” of letter writing is one not to be taken for granted. In Hannah Brencher’s Ted Talk, “Love Letters to Strangers,” she passionately conveys the positive influence handwritten letters have had on her and their receiver's lives. Through a strong appeal to pathos and a profound tone, Brencher argues how the genuine nature of a letter cannot be matched by any innovative digital memo.
Brencher uses rhetoric and appeals to the emotions of her viewers by telling anecdotes of a few people that have been impacted by handwritten proclamations of love and support. She garners an amount of ethos because she …show more content…
She reflects on a time when she was engulfed by depression and discovered a unique outlet. As a college student, she connected with her mother through letters. Although at the time she found this to be often frustrating, in her later life she learned the value, as writing letters to strangers around her city dug her out of her depression. She evokes sympathy from the audience with her personal experience because she offers a deeper meaning to a piece of paper from a stranger. She describes her inbox, filled with people requesting letters, as a “harbor of heartbreak.” She contends that there are so many people, just looking for a meaningful notification by anybody willing to take the time for them. She reveals the circumstances of some of the individuals who have requested letters from her and provides examples of how those letters ‘saved’ them “A man who decides