Communication is a very essential tool for any group to share ideas, concerns, requests and many other things. A very key component to communication is having a language that is universal among everybody speaking it so that everybody understands each other. What I see happening more and more is people coming up with slang or weird acronyms and abbreviations that they expect everyone to know. This brings up the question, are we becoming more efficient communicators or lazier ones?
When I got hit with my first "lol", I had absolutely no clue what that meant. Then it started popping up everywhere until somebody finally explained to me it's meaning. Then came brb, lmao, fml, and all kinds of shortcuts to combine three or more words in one tiny acronym. Another thing that I'm sure would boggle the minds of some would be when we say something is "sick". When something is "sick" it can either be horrible or incredible depending on the context. We have a whole bunch of slang or terminology that can mean more than one thing, causing a lot of confusion.
So when the question is asked if we are becoming more efficient or lazy communicators, I would have to say that we are becoming lazier. The language is becoming less universal and this means that you have to stay up to date on the newest slang to stay in the communication loop.
I would have to agree with you that we are becoming lazier and more dependent on technology. We have to have the latest in cell phone technology. We won't buy it if there no text messaging, no built-in mp3 player, no camera, no web browser, and no email. And none of these has nothing to do with talking on the phone. And we think we are tech savvy, no we are just technology slaves.
ReplyDeleteThe technological world is becoming more and more advanced and the communication is changing. I'd agree with you that we are becoming more lazy because you do have to stay up to date with the newest slang. I'm sure it's also difficult for people trying to learn english and for the teachers to explain all the new slang because it might confuse them more and they probably won't understand very well.
ReplyDeleteThe slang is the most difficult part for me to learn English! But I know it's important. It's not only a language, but also a part of American culture!
ReplyDeleteI'm not gonna lie I use the lol and ha and wtf a little bit. I think the reason that I use it is because people our age who use things like iming and texting all know what it means so instead of saying that was so funny I am laughing right now I will just say lol or sometimes you dont know what to say so just to respond you will say those things to people.
ReplyDeleteI understand the thought behind our lazy comunication. we tend to rush things and now I have friends that refuse to talk on the phone and only like to text. since there is a max amount of words this helps to keep the message short. Plus i really hate long text messages.
ReplyDeleteI agree that we are becoming more and more lazy in our communication. One that had me confused was "btw" (by the way). I tried to make up all kinds of things that could mean. I just didn't know! It took my sixteen year old cousin to explain that to me. This is becoming more of an issue now days. For the most part, the people who speak in this way are teens and young adults, not professionals or people who have obtained degrees. It's a setback for improving our writing. We as students, have to do a lot of writing and out of habit we may slip in a "FYI" or "lol" in our papers that we are turning in for a grade. Imagine what our teachers would say! Smh!
ReplyDeleteI for one hate our text abbreviations. They are causing me to become lazy in my communication. They are really bad for the collegiate mind. I type papers all the time, and find myself revising really hard because I'll put some text lingo down and that is in no way acceptable with any of my teachers. I actually wrote 'IDK' under one of my answers on my test recently and my teacher circled it and then wrote a question mark.
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