There were several interesting points in the readings. I found that the majority of the readings were concerned with the use of the English language and the depletion of proper grammar, spelling, and effective communication. First interesting point was made by outlining how individuals perceive the intimacy of communication and how we list them by nature from the most to least satisfaction.
It will be impossible to replace a face to face conversation in text only, emoticons and discussions online. The void of non verbal clues and communication are omitted and the sender is able to manipulate the receiver with their message without fully disclosing their true emotions. One challenge with communication by email, IM, Facebook, Twitter, etc., is the lack of a genuine communication. There are many times that I see posts and say to myself what in the world is that person thinking. I can now analyze that the individual is creating a persona and could be a “flamer.”
Furthermore, the use of spell check is not always our best friend! Social media and email are forms of blended communications and there will always be use of improper punctuation, spelling, and slang abbreviations. I don’t feel that the use of SMS will deplete the English language, however I do feel it influences the flow of a conversation and out of habit we are adapting and more acceptable as a society as a whole of the use of phrases such as “LOL, ROFL, SMH, etc.”
Which leads me to my third point of culture, online culture does not give an ethnicity face. The adaptability and acceptability of the users level of communication through online messages. I personally have not used another language on line other than English. However, I do see use of online translators in other languages where you type in your message in English, select the language, and viola you can now speak another language! I do not believe that ethnicity has a strong influence on the user, it is the accessibility of technology that hinders other cultures from having a presence online.
In the future the use of abbreviated conversation will continue. The main influences are speed, technology expansion, and the age of the users. Culturally, we could see a higher use from other countries as their governments give more freedom socially to their people. As for America we are so immersed in technology and obsessed with advanced versions that we are headed full speed to the next great way to communicate online.
Going back to the technological determinism perspective, I don’t understand why some people continue to think that CMC controls us and will destroy the way our lives “should be”. As you said, SMS will not deplete the English language. We’ve changed the way we communicate to each other via CMC by adapting to the technology’s limitations e.g. shorter sentences, abbreviations, leet speak, etc. But I still feel as though we know how to switch gears when we communicate via more traditional channels, like letters, telephone conversations, face-to-face, etc.
I agree with this last part of your post ——>In the future the use of abbreviated conversation will continue. The main influences are speed, technology expansion, and the age of the users. Culturally, we could see a higher use from other countries as their governments give more freedom socially to their people. As for America we are so immersed in technology and obsessed with advanced versions that we are headed full speed to the next great way to communicate online.
I think we are always evolving, and I am sure that it does not stop here.
I think we are trying to create more genuine communication but there are still so many limitations. There is no universal language; there are challenges in understanding each others’ perspectives. We are not all excellent writers or readers; we don’t always know the audience and they don’t know us. Slap abbreviations and other non-traditional forms on top, and it can lead to layers for us to get lost in & confused by.
But it goes beyond text; we are creating more media-rich messages in an attempt to create a better understanding. Baym wrote “these phenomena are only enhanced by the additional cues found in shared video, photography, sound, and other multimedia means of online interaction” (63). The combination with emoticons, images, videos, graphics, colors, can all influence the way we perceive each others’ messages.
We can try to comprehend these changes. As you stated, society is adapting and adopting to the “blended forms” of communication. We are creating another segment that is leading to changes in our communication patterns, but not necessarily to the English language as a whole.
There have been times in real life where I have found myself saying abbreviatons out loud like STFU or LOL in actual conversations. Mostly this happens around friends or family. I will get caught up in the conversation and reply with abbreviations on accident.