Circumstances

The text “How Not to Be Alone” by Jonathan Safran Foer was published on 8th of June, 2013 in the American newspaper The New York Times.

The essay is an adapted version of a commencement address delivered by Foer at Middlebury College in 2013. This suggests that the original speech was mainly intended for college students, parents, and professors.

The topic of the text is closely related to the modern day use of digital technologies. In the essay, Foer focuses on how contemporary society is negatively affected by technology. To do this, the writer explores how communication technology first developed: “Most of our communication technologies began as diminished substitutes for an impossible activity. We couldn’t always see one another face to face, so the telephone made it possible to keep in touch at a...