Digital Communication And Dating Analysis

In this day in age, there is an abundance of technology and a multitude of ways people can communicate with one another. Language is a way to express one’s identity and speech norms, while different language ideologies can influence someone’s behavior. Digital communication reflects general properties of language use and provides new possibilities for cultural interaction. To address how digital language can reflect the general properties of language, I will use my own personal experiences and examples of “dating” within digital communication. These examples will address changes of medium, different structures, and the ideologies associated with the media. To supplement my examples, I will use the key concepts outlined by Gershon in her

This reflection is important while looking at how people approach different mediums. Gershon’s central ideas show how important structure is in digital communication. It can affect “how the exchange takes place and how it can circulate afterwards” (Gershon, 394). While using the specific example of dating to examine this, we first need to look at some general properties of language use one would use. People have language ideologies regarding formality, what is appropriate and where, and norms that are culturally set in their beliefs. Gershon goes on to say in her article that both media and language ideologies, “involve the assumptions that people hold about how a medium accomplishes communicative tasks” (Gershon, 391). The idea that there are acceptable things to say at home, but not at work, is reflected in digital communication. People have ideologies behind what they can say on certain apps and what medium they choose, can affect the message. Regarding dating on digital platforms, I have seen how important the medium is. Using an example from my personal experiences, I had a short lived relationship with a guy on campus. His main form of communication was snapchatting; however, my main form of communication was texting. To me, texting was casual, but to him, texting was considered more formal. Just by choosing this medium, I gave off the

I believe digital communication opens up doors to meeting new people and to communicate in a variety of ways. Sticking with the general theme of dating in the digital world, I have examples to demonstrate digital communication opening up doors and the different ways it allows us to communicate and express ourselves. Digital communication allows people who normally do not share similar spaces to interact. In high school, my friend introduced me to a boy, but he went to a different school. Although we did not have that shared space, we were still able to interact digitally and keep in touch. Without verbal cues to convey any emotion, miscommunication would occasionally happen in that relationship. In Evan’s article, she emphasizes a need for emojis or images to help people be more effective communicators in the digital world. Evan also makes the point “the emoji’s primary function is not to usurp language but to fill in the emotional cues otherwise missing from typed conversation” (Evans, 1). Emojis are an aspect that adds to the variety of ways we talk digitally. Just like language, people have beliefs behind how to use emojis. I was once told I had to work on my emoji use, which just shows the different media ideologies people hold. Interaction is also affected by certain functions in digital communication. These functions include being able to