Wireless Internet: The Talk of the Virtual Town
Internet communication can truly have its own language.
Someone's "j/k" might leave you "ROFL," or their "brb" can leave you hanging.
As mobile phone and Internet services become more and more integrated, some people are again sounding the alarm about the potential degeneration of language entailed in using Internet shorthand.
As recently as fifty years ago, close friends, even in the same city, would write letters to each other as a primary form of communication.
Maybe there is something about having to fill a blank page that lends itself to prose that is sometimes flowery, sometimes overwritten, and sometimes boring, but always in the individual voice of that person.
With the cold glare of a mobile phone screen, it certainly seems appropriate to sometimes use terse abbreviations as "omg" and "thx" instead of their proper English equivalents.
One interesting argument made about this style of communication is that it reduces phrases that have a strong emotional content or meaning to cliches.
For instance, think about the common phrase "LOL," which stands for "laughing out loud.
" Think of the act of reading a letter or a book, and actually throwing your head back with laughter.
While this was for sure originally the intent of this shorthand, "LOL" is now frequently used to acknowledge anything funny said in an Internet or wireless Internet conversation.
This is because communication over the Internet requires a sort of truncation of what one is trying to express, since one has to go through the extra step of filtering one's thoughts through a keyboard instead of naturally communicating something directly to another person.
Are we actually becoming more cold and computer-like now that we don't have to take the time to write out what we feel in the English language? Many people will say that Internet speak is indeed now part of our language, and we are just finding different ways to express the same emotions.
Maybe the emotion truly implied by an "LOL" is now expressed by an "OMG LOL" or something similar.
Language is always in a state of flux, with new words entering and leaving the language all the time.
Internet speak could be something that actually broadens the possibilities of human expression, instead of limiting them, especially as mobile broadband service means that more and more of us are connected to the Internet all the time.
Similarly, other people say that Internet speak is meant to hide the meanings of conversations to outsiders.
Why would one say "j/k" when one could just say "joke" instead? Again, however, languages are always changing.
Human beings seem to need new words to interact with new elements of their environment, and the dawn of 4G and other fast wireless services is certainly an important development.
Maybe using Internet speak such as "j/k" is a subtle way of acknowledging that real jokes are told and shared offline.
There is a strong argument to be made that Internet shorthand is a way of reminding us that our conversation is taking place in the virtual world, without denying that there is more communication to be had among friends in person.
Someone's "j/k" might leave you "ROFL," or their "brb" can leave you hanging.
As mobile phone and Internet services become more and more integrated, some people are again sounding the alarm about the potential degeneration of language entailed in using Internet shorthand.
As recently as fifty years ago, close friends, even in the same city, would write letters to each other as a primary form of communication.
Maybe there is something about having to fill a blank page that lends itself to prose that is sometimes flowery, sometimes overwritten, and sometimes boring, but always in the individual voice of that person.
With the cold glare of a mobile phone screen, it certainly seems appropriate to sometimes use terse abbreviations as "omg" and "thx" instead of their proper English equivalents.
One interesting argument made about this style of communication is that it reduces phrases that have a strong emotional content or meaning to cliches.
For instance, think about the common phrase "LOL," which stands for "laughing out loud.
" Think of the act of reading a letter or a book, and actually throwing your head back with laughter.
While this was for sure originally the intent of this shorthand, "LOL" is now frequently used to acknowledge anything funny said in an Internet or wireless Internet conversation.
This is because communication over the Internet requires a sort of truncation of what one is trying to express, since one has to go through the extra step of filtering one's thoughts through a keyboard instead of naturally communicating something directly to another person.
Are we actually becoming more cold and computer-like now that we don't have to take the time to write out what we feel in the English language? Many people will say that Internet speak is indeed now part of our language, and we are just finding different ways to express the same emotions.
Maybe the emotion truly implied by an "LOL" is now expressed by an "OMG LOL" or something similar.
Language is always in a state of flux, with new words entering and leaving the language all the time.
Internet speak could be something that actually broadens the possibilities of human expression, instead of limiting them, especially as mobile broadband service means that more and more of us are connected to the Internet all the time.
Similarly, other people say that Internet speak is meant to hide the meanings of conversations to outsiders.
Why would one say "j/k" when one could just say "joke" instead? Again, however, languages are always changing.
Human beings seem to need new words to interact with new elements of their environment, and the dawn of 4G and other fast wireless services is certainly an important development.
Maybe using Internet speak such as "j/k" is a subtle way of acknowledging that real jokes are told and shared offline.
There is a strong argument to be made that Internet shorthand is a way of reminding us that our conversation is taking place in the virtual world, without denying that there is more communication to be had among friends in person.
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