The Decay of Modern Communication and Socialization (05/05/2007)

I must preface this post by saying I am very much a fan of new technology, and the convenience of today's modern devices and means of communication. I admit to being guilty myself of purchasing, subscribing, using... and sometimes even abusing much of what I'll be writing about in this blog. So I post this blog to hopefully add some insight and stir up the pot to get people thinking and talking... as always I want your opinions and kudos!

OK, so the other day I was talking to a friend of mine over the telephone about modern communication and some of my concerns with it. It seems as though with today's modern gadgets and conveniences, such as cellular phones and wireless internet, much of the population is losing it's grip on social interaction and proper communication.

What do I base this opinion on you ask? Well that's easy, as I simply have to open my cell phone and read a few texts, or log into my email and browse through some of my incoming mail. It's all right there in front of me... it's everywhere... spelling errors, the lack of proper punctuation and capitalization, words being used in the wrong sense, countless abbreviations... and blatant disregard of the English language as a whole.

Now this isn't something new, it has been going on for centuries. You see, with almost any great new invention, there are not only advantages, but also the adverse effects or fall-out that happens as a result of that invention. It is your basic cause and effect, although sometimes we are so caught up in the new fangled "thing" that we lose focus on what side effects it may be causing.

Let me give you some examples:

Letters/Messages - Written language in it's many forms, continues to be a powerful communication method, despite having been around for thousands of years. A side affect of written communication is that we lose the ability to relay our message in person, thus missing out on key signals from our other senses, such as body language, touch, taste and smell.

Telephone - The invention of the telephone is one of the most amazing technological breakthroughs of our time, and I can't imagine life without it. With all the benefits of the telephone, some of the side effects are that we lose much of the same things as listed above with the written message. So not only do we miss out on significant visual clues such as a handshake, head nod, or hand signals might give... but we also have nothing that is tangible. There is nothing to hold onto, all you have is just a voice on the line.

Email/Texts - Oh what would modern communication be without these wonderful tools? Although through the use of email and text messaging we are able to share entire thoughts or messages to single or multiple individuals with the press of a few buttons, it has many of the same limitations as the other previous examples. Then when you add in today's mix of ridiculous abbreviations and so-called "options" that these services provide us, it can get particularly messy.

Let's see, so I've described briefly how communication deteriorates when you are not dealing with the individual(s) you are interacting with face to face. Now I understand that there are certain parts of this degradation that are to be expected, and for the most part are unavoidable. I don't have much of a problem with that sort. What I do have concerns about though, are some of the adverse effects that our modern conveniences enable us to exercise.

One of my main complaints with today's communication is the manipulation of the English language. You see, with all our technological advances that are supposed to save us time and help speed up the world, it seems as if everybody is looking for ways to cut corners when it comes to actual communication. In doing so, many people have thrown the English book right out the window... trading it in for terrible spelling habits and an ever-growing and somewhat controversial phenomenon known as "internet slang" or "initialisms".

Initialsims such as "LOL" (Laughing out loud), which are more correctly described as acronyms, have traditionally been used in chat rooms and other text based communications. These acronyms are simply abbreviations originated to quickly express bodily reactions in the form of text. This list of initialisms is constantly growing, ever changing, and is now used along with "emoticons" and "smileys" by a majority of internet users. This form of relaying a message has also seen considerable widespread leakage into other forms of digital communication as well.

These initialisms/acronyms are becoming quite controversial, and as more and more of them emerge, they are becoming ever more problematic and obscure. While abbreviations such as "r" (are), "u" (you), and "4" (for) have become fairly common, these acronyms can often be difficult to decipher or misunderstood all together. The use of this type of communication, has been viewed down upon by many professionals, and they recommend against their use, either in general or in specific contexts such as business communications. These professionals tend to agree that these new words, being abbreviations for existing, long-used, phrases, don't "enrich" anything; they just shorten it.

On the other hand, there are those people who would say this isn't the decline of English at all, but instead a brand new youthful variety of language that's just beginning to evolve. Now I always had strong marks in English class, so I am relatively against this suggestion. I actually cringe when I get messages filled with spelling errors, initialisms, and the such. I mean are we as a society going to accept this "laziness" as the norm? I certainly hope not!

There are also a growing number of people who actually prefer electronic communication to actual physical contact. I think that speaks volumes about what type of impact these communications have on people these days. With modern technology we are able to control, who, when and where we want to message others. We can even avoid being contacted all together! So this is what being "connected" feels like huh... is it any wonder that there are more people than ever that feel isolated and alone?

If you ask me, I'd say modern communication is rather cold and emotionless. It gives us the ability to say things without expression, effectiveness or emotion. I'm sorry, but seeing a sad, Pacman looking emoticon has nowhere near the same effect as the sight of tears running down a someone's cheek as you hear them cry and feel their sobbing. That being said, nor does ALL CAPITAL LETTERS, underlined text, exclamation points (!!!), or even LOL have any of the power of uncontrollable laughter, a smile, and a gleam in the eye. As further evidence, I also have never been nearly as turned on by XOXOXO, as I have by the scent, touch, and kiss of a woman.

So to all of you out there I give you the following advice:

If possible plan a nice trip to visit a friend and bring a small gift... instead of simply just calling them. If visiting isn't an option, then call and talk to somebody.... in place of sending them a letter. If making a call just doesn't work out, sit down and in pen and paper actually write someone a nice message... before sending an electronic email. If you have no stamps, type up an email and make sure to use spellcheck... before texting to their phone. If completely out of options or you have to send multiple people the same message, then by all means text their cell. Now with all of these options, remember to use some class... respect yourself and respect the person your communicating with. This means using proper English, checking your spelling and grammar, using appropriate capitalization and punctuation, and for the love of English... can you please refrain from using initialisms, emoticons, smileys and such as much as possible!

Thanks for reading... LOL!

SuperDave