Technology Overload: Conquering Internet Addiction for a Happy, Balanced, and More Purposeful Life by Novella Walker

Author:Novella Walker [Walker, Novella]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, pdf
Publisher: Novella T. R. Walker
Published: 2016-03-25T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 5

Abbreviated Life

"Language is the blood of the soul into which thoughts run and out of which they grow."

-Oliver Wendell Holmes

TY, LOL, BRB, L8R, IMHO, OMG. We are familiar with all of these expressions or abbreviations if we are into technology using computers or smartphones. Emoticons express the emotions we feel online. Abbreviations seem to have become the norm in our everyday communications online. We no longer express complete sentences or thoughts.

Faster technology has created quick thought, and ultimately has created quick language. We don't seem to mind this change, however, as we have embraced it wholeheartedly. This too is becoming a part of who we are, as our world is ever-changing and so is its language. But what does this do to written language and our ability to express complete thoughts? We may think that everyone can understand our shortened version of the language, but this simply is not true.

Those who are strictly anti-technology or don't have access online or have a cell phone have no idea what we mean when we use letters to express our thoughts, or technology jargon. This creates further alienation from those around us and puts us into a separate group, the techies and non-techies. How much further divided must we become?

This type of abbreviated language is very open for misinterpretation and misunderstandings between people. Someone may think you are hurling insults their way if they don't know what you really mean. This can create problems in itself when it comes to being understood by others. Our language is one that is easily misinterpreted with our use of words and the context in which they are used.

This use of abbreviations has carried over into our society and the world around us. Businesses use abbreviated forms of their corporate name. This can be seen in modern day fast food restaurants that now only use letters in their name because their brand is so recognizable that we know what type of place it is and what they do without having to read a long corporate name.

This may be good for businesses that have branded themselves, but what about everyday people? Language should not be branded because we use it to express ourselves as individuals, and each one of us is unique, and our use of words is unique to us. We may speak the same language, but we are different in how we choose to express ourselves to others.

In time, if this abbreviated language continues, it may very well become our chosen way of speaking, and we may even forget how to express complete thoughts using actual words. It may not happen in this lifetime, but who knows how this will evolve in future generations?

Our lives have also become abbreviated. We are so entrenched in technology and mass media that we seem to have forgotten our basic foundations. No one likes to write complete sentences anymore, or even spell correctly. It is also a part of our need for speed and brevity in communications. This is not only in the online world, but reality in general.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.