Explore Communication Through Digital Language

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Recommended: The impact of electronic communication

Since the first text message was sent in 1992 digital communication has affected our lives in both positive and negative ways. It has changed the way we run our lives, making us more efficient, more effective human beings. However many people claim that digital communication has had a purely negative impact on our civilisation. They believe the only product from digital communication is laziness. It is widely believed that the current generation is more lethargic then any other that came before it, this is apparently caused by digital communication. We have become lazier in two ways with our actions and our language. Both of these have apparently been caused by digital communication, because we no longer have to leave the house as we can get everything we need from the internet and as John Sutherland said in The New Statesman in 2008 “ It masks dyslexia, poor spelling and mental laziness. Texting is penmanship for illiterates.” This provokes laziness, as people no longer have to try to spell correctly or use correct grammar since spell check was invented. Others think that digital communication is the new, exciting way humans are adapting to their ever-changing surroundings for example Mallary Jean Tennore said in Poynter in March 2013 that “Language is always evolving, and technology is a healthy part of that evolution.” John Sutherland’s statement that the Internet masks certain parts of ourselves can be interpreted in a few different ways it can be used to say that people are to free on the internet as they don’t suffer any consequences due to anonymity or a ’mask’, it can mean how John Sutherland meant it as a way to hide illiteracy or it could be a mask that blocks tone, facial expressions and body language which is essentia...

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... using verbal elements in the text message. Also I use hyperbole here by overusing exclamation marks this also portrays emotion as it could show excitement, anger or in this case laughter. Another way this text mirrors a conversation is the use of fillers, for example ‘ummmm…’ This was not needed in the text message and it is strange how I have taken the time to include it in the message. I could be using it again to make the conversation either flow more smoothly or seem more comfortable. As well as this it shows how strong the effect digital communication has had on us as we can’t help but write down everything we’re thinking in a text message. However I think this filler doesn’t really fit in this message, and would be better suited as a reply to someone else’s text message to give the sender more time to think while letting the person know they’re still there.

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