Online Language
The new digital age has shaped society into expressing thoughts through writing in so many different ways. Through digital literacies, there are many controversies regarding the ideas of grammar, spelling, punctuation, and abbreviation. It truly is amazing how today we can communicate between different groups and technologies even with something as little as an emoticon. A universal language between different languages in itself has made the internet a wonderful place to share and express emotions and new ideas.
Through texting, society has created universal abbreviations, or other ways to say words without spelling them out entirely. Some of these include “gtg” meaning “got to go” and others like “omw” signaling “on my way.” Of course, younger generations who grew up around this idea of creating abbreviations for certain words can grasp and understand this kind of information when being sent a text message. However, the downside to this idea of shortening words is now becoming a problem for actual schoolwork and thorough communication with elderly people. Working on schoolwork and having to spell out every word for what it really means can take longer, not only to write it down or to type it but to think of ways to spell it. As for communicating between older people, it may lead them to be confused. Personally, I had an experience when texting my grandmother and abbreviating certain words. She called me after I sent a text abbreviating “gtg” because she was confused as to what I was talking about. While this a great thing we have to communicate through, it has to be with people who also understand this “new language.”
Another way of new online language includes the way of shortening words. Of course, our generation will do anything it can to make things “easier.” We see examples through texting words like “okay” and will have them shortened down to simply just “k.” Or instead of saying “why” we will just type the letter “y.” This makes texting so simple and easy yet we can ask ourselves: is this really the proper way to communicate?
When using technology today, we also have access to over 3,000 emoticons to choose from. Emojis can elaborate feelings when texting and ultimately add extra emphasis to an idea or statement. Today, they are also used when captioning photos on social media posts. In 2015, the Oxford Dictionary word of the year was “Face with Tears of Joy” emoji. It really is crazy to think about how the new digital way of conversing has made such an impact on the real world.
While all of these new ways of communicating help make life a little bit simpler, it can be confusing for other people who haven’t grown up in this way of exchanging thoughts and ideas. It can also be considered a downside for children who are becoming educated on actual grammar, spelling, and punctuation when they are also learning how to text at the same time. It is only a matter of time before communicating becomes overly simple in a way where ideas won’t be able to be shared properly. But for now, we can enjoy the use of emojis and abbreviating texts.
TTYL!
