Compare the following two quotes: “My summer holidays were a complete waste of time. Before, we used to go to New York to see my brother, his girlfriend and their three screaming kids face to face. I love New York” (Tagg, 2015: p. 20). “My smmr hols wr CWOT. B4, we usd 2go2 NY 2C my bro, his GF & thr 3 :-kds FTF. ILNY” (Tagg, 2015: p. 20). The first quote is normal; it is exactly what a typical teenager would say in real life. However, the second quote almost seems like an alien language, it is eccentric and difficult to understand. Surprisingly, these two quotes are the same: the second quote is the original text from the school essay of a 13-year-old UK girl written in a social media style from Caroline Tagg’s Exploring Digital Communication,
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Observations from students in Greece, Saudi Arabia and Japan all reflect similar concerns that social media and digital communications have a negative impact on young people’s literacy skills (Tagg, 2015: p. 20). The example of the 13-year-old British girl provided by Cramb backs this argument up. People have created new ways of communication on social media through the usage of simplified words and phrases that often have different spellings as the original. Furthermore, the long-term adaptation of the online environment with the new way of communication changes the way teenagers interact offline as well. This new way of contact, according to a 2012 poll by Edutopia, is reflected in various aspects of offline communications, even in academic writings such as the 13-year-old girl’s essay. This is, in some extent, is ruining the language: by largely changing the words, phrases and grammar of the language in their communications, social media users amend it to a totally different language. In other words, the language, in its traditional form, is in danger of disappearance as social media users change it more and …show more content…
A research conducted by L. Al-Sharqi, K. Hashim and I. Kutbi from King Abdulaziz University observes that social media helps users to “learn about people’s different thinking styles”, “connect to others and communities”, and “improve ability to be open-minded (Al-Sharqi, Hashim, Kutbi, 2015: p. 126). Similar research conducted by Gwenn Schurgin O’Keeffe and Kathleen Clarke-Pearson observe that social media helps users to “accomplish online many of the tasks that are important to them offline: staying connected with friends and family, making new friends, sharing pictures, and exchanging ideas” (O’Keeffe, Pearson, 2011: p. 2). Posting and communicating on social media often require high social skills and provide practice for these skills. For example, if a user wants to post something popular with more likes, he/she need to know what his/her target audience enjoys. This is a high skill that is also carried over to the offline world. Such skills will help the user open up better conversations with others because by knowing what everyone likes, the user can easily attract their attentions and create more interesting conversations with the audiences. Furthermore, by constantly connecting and interacting with others on the Internet, social media users improve their communication skills. Most importantly, by encouraging diverse opinions and enabling users to
Observations from students in Greece, Saudi Arabia and Japan all reflect similar concerns that social media and digital communications have a negative impact on young people’s literacy skills (Tagg, 2015: p. 20). The example of the 13-year-old British girl provided by Cramb backs this argument up. People have created new ways of communication on social media through the usage of simplified words and phrases that often have different spellings as the original. Furthermore, the long-term adaptation of the online environment with the new way of communication changes the way teenagers interact offline as well. This new way of contact, according to a 2012 poll by Edutopia, is reflected in various aspects of offline communications, even in academic writings such as the 13-year-old girl’s essay. This is, in some extent, is ruining the language: by largely changing the words, phrases and grammar of the language in their communications, social media users amend it to a totally different language. In other words, the language, in its traditional form, is in danger of disappearance as social media users change it more and …show more content…
A research conducted by L. Al-Sharqi, K. Hashim and I. Kutbi from King Abdulaziz University observes that social media helps users to “learn about people’s different thinking styles”, “connect to others and communities”, and “improve ability to be open-minded (Al-Sharqi, Hashim, Kutbi, 2015: p. 126). Similar research conducted by Gwenn Schurgin O’Keeffe and Kathleen Clarke-Pearson observe that social media helps users to “accomplish online many of the tasks that are important to them offline: staying connected with friends and family, making new friends, sharing pictures, and exchanging ideas” (O’Keeffe, Pearson, 2011: p. 2). Posting and communicating on social media often require high social skills and provide practice for these skills. For example, if a user wants to post something popular with more likes, he/she need to know what his/her target audience enjoys. This is a high skill that is also carried over to the offline world. Such skills will help the user open up better conversations with others because by knowing what everyone likes, the user can easily attract their attentions and create more interesting conversations with the audiences. Furthermore, by constantly connecting and interacting with others on the Internet, social media users improve their communication skills. Most importantly, by encouraging diverse opinions and enabling users to