It is no surprise that technology and the internet are becoming a huge part of society. It seems as though you never meet someone who does not have a Facebook, or someone without a cell phone (or even a phone that surfs the web or can access websites and email). It is hard for a lot of people to go a day without checking their social networking sites or sending tons of text messages.
A lot of people feel that the internet has led to a decline in our language. We all know the concept of chatspeak and how people shorten words and come up with cute little acronyms, so I won't bother with trying to explain or define anything. However, I tend to blame text messaging for really kicking this horrible trend into overdrive. Of course this all started with the internet and instant messaging in order for people to shorten their thoughts and type faster, so I'll explain what I mean. When text messaging came about, the acronyms and shortenings became even MORE convenient than before. When you are typing up a text message, there is a limit to how many characters you can use (the limit is usually around 160 characters, give or take a few). This tends to force people to shorten what they want to say, using those cute little shortcuts that the internet taught them. Then when they get back on Facebook or Twitter, they're used to using this new cyber language they have become fluent in.
I obviously do not have much of a problem with the internet (I mean, I'm writing a blog). If people want to shorten their words or whatever, then they can go for it. However, the age groups of people joining the internet are getting younger and younger. This is what bothers me. Young people and children are joining Facebook and talking on the internet, learning these shortcuts and strange ways of talking. My ten-year-old sister joined Facebook over the summer (and you have to be thirteen to have one, so it's only a matter of time before her account gets shut down), and she talks with all of her friends who are between the ages of eight and eleven. You can be sure that they all use chatspeak and netspeak and that their conversations are riddled with "LOLs" and "JKs." They even literally speak this way in person. Just the other day, my sister said "lol" when I told her about something funny our dog did earlier. She even speaks in "lolcat," the "I can haz cheezburger" meme that shook the internet.
This is only merely annoying to hear since it is just flat-out an annoying way to speak. What gets to be a real problem, though, is when these kids start writing like this at school. My sister has failed several spelling tests because she spelled the words in netspeak. She has even used chatspeak in her assignments and stories for school. I always ask her why she does this in her assignments-- she said she does it because she can't remember how to spell or write with proper English grammar, and that it is just so much easier to write like that. This infuriated me, because at first I thought she was just being lazy. However, I realized that she honestly is just so used to speaking like this on the internet that she cannot remember how to do it the right way. Since she is so young and impressionable, she is being conditioned to always write and speak this way. This is becoming her language.
What makes speaking this way so much easier? Valerie Yule, in her article called International English Spelling and the Internet, says there are six common features that act as the Principles of Bad Spelling on the Internet. These features are: usually phonetic, dropped letters and double letter often dropped in emails, problems in spelling vowels, slurring (crobbirate instead of "corroborate"), slips (typos), and unintelligible spellings. So basically, people drop letters and make up their own spellings instead of bothering to look up the correct way to spell things.
Another aspect of talking on the internet that is stunting my sister's language development is the emoticon. Coincidentally enough, Eats, Shoots & Leaves (the book I had to read for my grammar class) had a section devoted to the emoticon, and perfectly explained why my sister has issues. With the emoticon, you send an idea or a concept. If you're in a good mood, or someone said something nice to you, you can simply respond with ":-)" and you don't have to formulate thoughts and words to express how you're feeling. You don't need to take the time to really think about how you are feeling or how you can best express yourself-- entire emotions have been captured for you through the odd combinations of colons and parentheses. If you asked my sister how she was feeling, she probably wouldn't tell you anything...but if you asked her the same question on Facebook chat, you'd probably receive ":-)" or ":-(" in response. She doesn't have to go through the emotional stress of thinking about how to tell us she is feeling sad, hurt, or like an outcast because she is being bullied in school. Instead, it is much simpler for her to realize that she just feels bad, so a simple frowney face will suffice.
Now, this is obviously not true to a lot of people and it isn't really something to be too entirely concerned about yet. However, what worries me is my sister's young age. Like I said before, because she's so young, she's very impressionable. She's still developing certain skills necessary to function as a member of society and her use of the internet is stunting this development. If she constantly relies on tools like emoticons to inform us of her ideas and feelings, she will never learn how to properly express herself in important and possibly stressful situations. She is already learning that it is faster and easier to speak in chatspeak, so who's to say that she won't have a difficult time with learning how to use the plethora of words in our language in a coherent and expressive way? She is being conditioned to say "lol" instead of "wow, that was hilarious!" or "jk" because we can't decipher tone over the internet and her friends never know when she is joking or not.
I have started a new policy with my sister. If she does not improve the way she speaks online, she won't be allowed to have a Facebook or email address anymore. She's been working very hard on typing all of the words out and forming complete, coherent sentences. She still says some of the dumb acronyms in everyday conversation, but it's exciting to see such improvement already.
Sources:
http://www.englishspellingsociety.org/journals/j23/internet.php
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