1. Social Media (Facebook and Instagram)
- Effect: More Informed About What’s Going On In The World
- Facebook and Instagram are my primary sources of daily news (I still haven't gotten a twitter). I’m am generally so busy that I wouldn’t take the time to sit down and read an entire newspaper. So, Facebook and Instagram allow me to receive my daily news in an extremely convenient and immediate way. Immediate in the sense that I can pull up news at the touch of a screen, but also in the sense that news sources almost immediately publish new stories when they are happening - so I don’t have to wait to read about today’s news in tomorrow’s paper.
- Limitation: Less in depth
- The major drawback of getting my news through Facebook and Instagram is that the stories are not nearly as in depth as newspaper articles would be. Half the time, I simply read the headline on my news feed and that’s the extent of my news-reading. When I do actually click on a story, the stories are often condensed into a short one minute video or a few paragraphs.
- I think that this limitation is still worth it however, since having instant access to news has really broadened my worldview and kept me more informed.
Initially I titled this section “Iphone.” However, midway through my contemplating how having an Iphone has shaped the way I use language, I realized that the most important effects that the Iphone has had on my life were also present with my pre-Iphone not-smart phones. So, I am going to examine how the cell phone has shaped me throughout my life. Specifically, I want to focus on how TEXTING AND CALLING have changed me, my life, and the way I use language.
- Effect: Created new vocabulary through texting
- One of the most obvious effects that texting has had on my use of language is the creation of a new “texting vocabulary” that has become accepted as a daily part of my life. This effect is clearly not specific to myself, as texting words like lol, brb, nvm, lmao, wtf, and countless others have almost entirely infiltrated the mainstream, everyday vocabulary. These new texting words have become so deeply ingrained in our daily lives that it isn’t uncommon for someone to actually say “L-O-L” or “W-T-F” out loud in regular conversation. I’m ashamed to admit that I probably have uttered both of these words out loud before. Aside from these mainstream texting words me and and my girlfriend have developed our own texting language. For example, if one of us texts the other a “K” and only a “K,” then the one receiving the “K” immediately knows that they have done something to annoy the other person. It’s amazing that texting has essentially given one single letter, “K,” the power to convey “I’m angry with you.”
- Limitation 1: Inability to convey tone over texting
- The biggest limitation of texting is the inability to convey tone over text, as it completely removes the gestural mode which is so essential to communication between humans. To solve this, I have turned to using emojis as a way to clarify my tone. Multiple times if I just have a short sentence that I text - the person on the other end has responded with “are you mad?” At which point I tell them that I’m not in fact mad. To fix this problem I have adopted emojis as part of my language to make sure that people understand what exactly I mean. “Sounds good :)” conveys a completely different meaning than “Sounds good :/”
- Limitation 2: Reliance on texting and calling
- While having a cell phone has many benefits, I have become reliant on texting (or calling for that matter) to make plans and meet up with people. I realized just how reliant I was on my cell phone to meet up and then actually stay with people last week over spring break when me and my group all lost each other on our cruise ship. Since no one had a phone we had no way of finding out where the others were or where we could reconvene. Now my parents, who grew up without cell phones, typically do pre-plan a meeting spot if people get separated at things like cruises or music festivals. I believe this demonstrates the negative effect that texting and calling has had on my ability to plan ahead.
- Effect: Improved diction, spelling, organization, speed of writing, (pretty much everything) in papers
- Out of all of the various technologies that have shaped me as a writer, I believe word processors have had the biggest effect on my writing. The fact that I can easily click on a word and see synonyms has improved my general vocabulary and my word choice in papers. The fact that I can quickly and easily create outlines to organize my thoughts has helped me organize my papers better. I can type faster than I can write by hand, so word processors have increased the speed of my writing. And of course I can’t leave out the best feature: spell check (the oh so useful Word count tool is a close second). All of these various features that word processors have has dramatically improved the quality of my writing.
- Sort of Limitation: reliance on spell check (but not really)
- The closest thing to a limitation of word processors is that they might create a reliance on the spell check tool. However, I think that instead of becoming reliant on spell check that I have actually become a better speller, as it’s easy to learn the correct spelling quickly when it's provided to you by a spell checker.