In What Other Ways Has The Internet Changed The Way Society Functions?

There is no doubt that our linguistic communication is a powerful tool. As is the internet. So how does internet slang affect us?

We spend a slap-up bargain of fourth dimension on the internet. As such, the internet has seen some significant changes in our lives. And so does internet slang.

Posting a letter of the alphabet seems ridiculously slow when you can just fire off an email. Task interviews are conducted online and nosotros don't bother sending Christmas cards when a mail service on Facebook will suffice.

Every bit a result, nosotros have too adapted the way we write and speak on the cyberspace. Internet slang is a relatively new term denoting the more than breezy words and phrases that we apply online. The interesting thing virtually this new phenomenon is the speed of how these slang words catch on.

And this is where the internet comes into its own. Before the internet, it would take a long time for new words to infiltrate our consciousness.

"Language itself changes slowly, but the internet has sped up the process of those changes then yous detect them more quickly," David Crystal, Honorary Professor of Linguistics, Bangor University

So, does cyberspace slang change the way we think, write and speak, or is it just a reflection of how our linguistic communication is evolving?

Does Internet Slang Alter the Way We Think?

To demonstrate how net slang changes the way we think permit's look at the abbreviation LOL . Nosotros all know LOL equally 'laughing out loud', simply thanks to advances in engineering science, its pregnant is now irresolute.

In fact, depicting LOL equally laughing is positively outdated. These days, people use LOL to signify their message is meant to be funny or ironic. And it has other meanings too.

"LOL tin can besides be a way to acknowledge that a writer has received a text—a written version of a nod of the head and a smile." Cyberspace Linguist Ann Curzan

Then LOL is used now in a passive mode as a listening tool, rather than an agile means to say yous are laughing.

The internet also has the power to change the everyday words we utilize and give them unlike semantic uses.

For example, Twitter introduced 'tweeting', which we now use as a verb. Facebook allows us to 'defriend' someone and we all know about 'trolling'. Even simple words such every bit 'like', 'poke', 'wave', 'tag', 'wall', 'post' and 'status' now have unlike connotations for united states of america.

If I asked you lot whether y'all liked your friend'due south post on their wall the other solar day, you wouldn't imagine I was talking nearly a letter on a debate. All these words now give the impression of our online presence.

Furthermore, this thinking process is so automatic it is at present embedded into our subconscious. Simply remember, two decades ago we hadn't even heard of the internet, let lone Facebook.

Does Internet Slang Change the Way We Speak?

Does internet slang really change the mode nosotros speak? It's truthful, some slang words take filtered into our everyday lives. Abbreviations like OMG, FOMO, LMAO and words such as hashtag, selfie, and cyberbully are all part of our commonage witting. But exercise we utilise them in real life and if so, do they alter the style we speak?

It is true that some abbreviations are more pop than others. For instance, OMG and LOL. These changes to our language appear to accept taken place nigh overnight. Then are nosotros about to go a globe that communicates via acronyms? Linguist David Crystal thinks not.

"The Internet has only been around for some twenty years, which is no fourth dimension at all. It takes a lot longer for permanent or significant language change to operate. Most people speak today simply as they did before the Cyberspace arrived."

Nonetheless, net slang is not simply nearly words and phrases. It also includes emoticons. Smiley faces, sad faces, our language is peppered with such references.

However, although some phrases, words, and acronyms may enhance and add to the expressive nature of our language, experts don't believe that internet slang will change it significantly.

"The occasional boosted spoken abbreviation (such equally LOL) is inappreciably a significant effect." David Crystal

Does Net Slang Change the Way We Write?

This is probably the virtually worrisome of all three debates on internet slang. Does information technology accept an effect on the way we write? It seems as if it must practise, but is in that location any testify?

Electronically mediated communication (EMC) or digital or online advice is described as the linguistic communication we employ on the internet. EMC linguistic communication is very different from the Standard English language we employ in formal contexts such as writing a CV for example.

Examples of EMC language

*sigh* – taking besides long to text back
B3 – Blah, blah, blah
PA – Parents are watching
Ok – Acknowledgement
Ok! – Agreement
Ok… – Potential disagreement
:: – Banging head against a wall
C-P – Sleepy

So are we at a point where the younger generation is going to single-handedly ruin the English language with text-speak and cyberspace slang?

Anne Curzan studies students and their use of EMC communication. She establish that although occasionally they may trip up and apply acronyms and abbreviations when they shouldn't, it wasn't the huge problem society deemed information technology to be.

"Every bit a linguist who studies the history of the English language language, I reassured the students that they are not ruining the English language language, no matter what they hear from their parents or teachers or other trustworthy and concerned authorities," she says.

Other linguist experts hold. David Crystal states that the overwhelming bulk of the linguistic communication nosotros write is still based on Standard English. That's why we are nevertheless able to read Shakespeare or Charles Dickens.

Perhaps we should exit the fence on internet slang to ane of the most famous linguists of all.

Stephen Pinker thinks that every bit human beings we exercise not similar change of any kind, and this includes linguistic communication. Therefore, information technology is unlikely that net slang volition take whatsoever lasting event on how nosotros think, speak or write in the long term.

But more importantly, in Pinker'south opinion, internet slang is non an influencer as such, it is more of a reflection of what is going on in society.

"Linguistic communication is not so much a creator and shaper of human being nature and then much equally a window onto human nature." Stephen Pinker

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Janey Davies has been published online for over ten years. She has suffered from a panic disorder for over xxx years, which prompted her to study and receive an Honours degree in Psychology with the Open up University. Janey uses the experiences of her own anxiety to offering assist and advice to others dealing with mental health issues.

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