My PWR Portfolio
Context
Rhetorical Strategies
This is one of the many articles I've written during my time as Lifestyle writer for The Edge Magazine. They're due each Friday and are supposed to discuss anything related to lifestyle, whether it's food, fitness, culture, habits, tips, clothes, etc.
While this magazine is open to the entire Elon community to engage in, the audience (and staff themselves) are primarily a female, GenZ demographic. With this being said, I tend to create my content in topics I feel they'd enjoy the most, and tend to self-reflect on something I would want to read myself, and content I consume outside of this magazine (which is great for inspiration). A huge conversation my friends and I have been having lately (in addition to my professors and classmates) is the rise of AI and technology. We often complain of our depleting attention spans, and how using our phones and social media feels completely inescapable in 2025. Therefore, I decided to make my most recent article about how to create a healthier relationship with your phone/usage habits (which I should try to implement more of myself). Given the current state of technology and the controversy surrounding the ethical usage of AI in terms of plagiarism, the environment, etc., this felt like the perfect moment to write this sort of article. It's not only applicable to a variety of demographics (enhancing its position in the lifestyle category), but it was created with Kairos (a rhetorical concept referring to an opportune or decisive moment in time) in mind due to the nature of today's technological climate.
Reflection
This article was one of my favorite to write during my time as a lifestyle writer. In a personal sense, it gave me the opportunity to self-reflect on my own daily habits and relationship with technology. However, an area I felt like I lacked in this article (in my role as a writer) is my failure to play with certain experimental ideas. If I were to re-write this article (and perhaps I will in the spring semester), I would personally implement the "cold turkey habits" I discussed for one full week and create daily reflections on my experience to compile a complete report on any changes I've noted. After all, experimental journalism is the most authentic and raw way to produce and share a personal journey. This is something I could apply to not only an article regarding phone usage, but perhaps other topics I've written about (like my semester guides, bucket lists, etc). I believe this would improve my credibility as a writer and prove fruitful for my own personal development as well.