LOL

Posted by admin on Oct 6, 2009 in Issues & Ideas | 0 comments

Can you imagine a world where no one laughs, but LOLs instead? The effect of texting on the youth of this culture is an imperative issue. It is commonly said that texting is ruining the spelling, grammar and communication skills of future generations. In addition, texting lacks in emotional content; without tone and eye contact, it is extremely difficult to express genuine feelings, as emoticons are limited in their conveyance. So is the proliferation of texting really a devolution, or is it simply another form of linguistic evolution?

English is going down the drain because of disjointed and poorly constructed conversations, and we find ourselves sitting helplessly in the bathtub wondering what happened to our language and what sort of clean up is in store.

However, we need to take a step back to get a clearer perspective on this issue. Anyone can lose themselves in the flood of seemingly endless rules of grammar and spelling, which can tempt ESL students to throw in the towel and study French. But we need to reevaluate language as a whole.

Despite grammatical limitations, we use English to communicate things that we would otherwise have no concept of.

Most of our ideas of actualities come from the words we associate with them. Most of these words address notions that we have no discernible proof of – such as love and hatred. Without audible sounds and visible symbols arranged for our convenience, we would be unable to communicate with one another.

We need language for the everyday needs of articulating ideas as well as for learning things outside of our own consciousnesses. In order to keep up with our ever-changing society and idealisms, language must be fluidly adjustable rather than a solid block of rules and restrictions. For example, a look at the time of Shakespeare, Dickens or even the Back to the Future movies proves that language has since evolved.

From a distance, the results we receive from the “age of texting” seem atrocious, but we must view this change as the next big step in language evolution and adaptation.

We need to remember that not every innovation in language catches on in daily speech (that’s fo shizzle). Rather, what we see before us is only the first step in a long journey of reinvention; or perhaps just another step of rejuvenation originating from the humble birth of human language.