Is the English language becoming another victim of social media?
By: Charlotte Smith
Tags: Language, Social Media, English

Social media has affected almost every aspect of modern life, but an aspect too often overlooked, is the way we communicate with one another.

More specifically, how communication on social media has affected the English language.

As “lol” celebrates it’s ninth year in the Oxford English Dictionary, I believe that it’s high time this matter is given some careful thought.

Initially, I thought it was clear that social media as we know it today has been nothing but detrimental to the English language.

Over the years we have seen reduction in communication, the bare minimum of information is passed from one to another, and whole sentences are represented by just a jumble of letters. One would be very much justified in the belief that social media has shrunk the English language down to little more than acronyms and abbreviations.

However, upon further reflection, perhaps this is nothing to mourn over. Bear with me on this one.

The English language is continually evolving to become more efficient to both convey ideas and to be comprehended.

The truth is, language has been abbreviated, shortened and shaved to the bones throughout history. As we know, “O’ clock” is simply an abbreviation of “of the clock”. This is just one example of a perfectly sensible abbreviation that has increased efficiency of communication with no detrimental effect to the English language.

It can’t be denied, acronyms that are products of social media such as “idk” (I Don’t Know) are only useful as far as people understand them. Attempting to communicate using these acronyms with people that spend minimal time on social media results in nothing but confusion, it would be far more efficient to just write the whole phrase!

However, this issue is undoubtedly nothing new. Abbreviations and acronyms would have taken a long while to find themselves in common usage throughout history. This period of transition for new slang to go from rarely used to commonly used and understood is far different today.

The transition period for a new piece of slang to integrate it’s way into common usage is undoubtedly shorter today due to social media.

I’m certain most would agree- social media has increased communication between humans considerably, and this increase results in new slang, abbreviations and acronyms being adopted into frequent usage at a considerably faster rate.

In addition to this, it is true that those who frequently use social media are more fluent in the slang that goes along with it. With COVID-19 forcing millions to remain at home and spend more time online in order to contact one another, more and more people are becoming fluent in internet slang and thus this language is becoming more widely used and understood.

Furthermore, the English language does not lose words as new ones are created. The acronym “lol” has not caused extinction of the words “laughing”, “out”, or “loud”.

As far as literature is concerned, it has already borne the brunt of slang and colloquialisms, and I would argue it has done so well. There is something deeply unique and personal about slang and colloquialisms in literature, it allows you to connect with the author. The presence of colloquialisms gives any work of literature a more causal tone, the reader is treated as more of a friend than an audience, and this allows the author to discuss more personal matters that could not be expressed if the language were to be stiff with perfection.

Furthermore, it is far easier for an author to convey their thoughts effectively with a plethora of words to choose from, rather than a limited selection of socially acceptable vocabulary.

Thus, I believe the beauty of literature has by no means been spoilt by colloquialisms, i believe quite the opposite, an authors ability to connect with their reader has been enhanced by colloquialisms and literature has become all the more beautiful for it.

The English language doesn’t exist to fuel the speaker’s pretentiousness, it exists to be understood. Therefore, I believe social media is only a threat to the English language should we turn our nose up at modern slang and colloquialisms.