Research on how have digitally mediated communication technologies changed language

Technology and Language

Assignment topic 2

How have digitally mediated communication technologies changed language? Have
these changes enhanced language or have they had an adverse effect on
communication and expression? In this question you are asked to take a position on the effects of digital technology on language. As part of your argument you must

drawn on an example of a digital writing technology that is dependent on writing (e.g.
mobile phones and texting) to illustrate your claim. Please note that while you are
required to take a stand and have an opinion in this essay, you must substantiate your
argument using the scholarly literature.

#HINT
1. In your response you should make reference to a specific example that
illustrates the way writing has (or hasn'nt) changed over time. It is also
recommended that you make use of David Crystal's work on "netspeak" (see
unit readings).

2. When planning your response it might help to refer back to some of the blog
posts from week 2

* *

Further instructions for Assignment Topics 1 and 2

Use of sources

Regardless of which topic you choose you will need to draw on Guy Merchant and at
least one of the David Crystal readings from the unit reader. You also must refer to at
least one other reading from this unit (you are not limited to 1). In addition, you must
make use of at least two other scholarly sources (e.g. journal article, book, book
chapter) not included in the unit reader. Other sources beyond these requirements are
of your own choosing.

And this is what they sent me. can u guys check it?

Introduction

This study focuses on how communication that is digitally mediated has altered language. Today, there is increasing use of screen based communication. This form of digital communication is prevalent in the work place as well as in the social circles. This has led to development as well as consumption of different types of texts and graphics in communication. Change of language as a result of adoption of digitalized communication platforms is very evident especially among the young people, who often highly customize such graphics and texts to achieve their intended motives. It is my view that digitally mediated communication has adverse effects on communication as well as self expression.

Discussion

Digitally mediated communication such as the use of email technology has resulted to opportunist writing, something that was less prevalent in the absence of this form of communication. Writers, in the digital platform are developing content that is directed to unknown people for various purposes including marketing. This has resulted to development of writing that is not directed to a particular person, reducing its personal appeal. This has significantly reduced self expression by the senders of such content to the reader.

Digital writing and communication such as chat rooms often involves more than one person who is online, who the writer is expected to chat with. This results to high level of messages streaming into the screen, where the writer is required to respond to them in real time. Such messages often differ in content and the source. This denies the writer flow of thinking and writing, resulting to a chaotic situation where a group of people in discussion, each with his or her own topic and without cooperation's. This forces the writer to write short messages, abbreviations and other ways of trying to respond to such messages within a short period of time. This compromises the ability of the writer to fully express his or her view, adversely affecting communication and self expression.

Communication that is digitally mediated results to increased strain in writing and misinterpretation of messages. For instance, use of mobile phone in writing and sending of short messages forces individuals to strain in writing, due to the small size of keys. This results to users of SMS service having to cut their messages short in an effort to save time. This results to low level of information being shared by the recipient and the writer. Due to lack of sufficient information, misunderstandings are often common, reducing the effectiveness of such communication.

One of the main goals of writing is to communicate. Attainment of this goal is often hindered when digitalized communication is used. For instance, blogs are an important digitally mediated communication that enables individuals to contribute to a given topic. It is worthy noting that to communicate effectively, one need to understand who the audience is, and customize such information to serve the needs of such a client. This is not the case in blogs. Individuals discuss personal and public matters, without knowing who their audience really is. Information may end up exposed to people of unintended age, gender or professional qualifications. This reduces the overall willingness of many people to express themselves in such platforms. It also reduces the ability of the writer to tailor his or her message to communicate effectively to the audience.

Digitally mediated communication facilitates communication between individuals. In spite of this, it reduces the ability of the receiver to respond in a timely manner. Unlike in face to face communication where response is immediate and occurs before the entire session is over. In stead of smooth flow of information, individuals have to wait for the writer to develop full information such as in emails. Such information is displayed on the reader's screen at once, requiring such a reader to seek more time in synthesizing the information. The sender and recipient are forced to have a significant waiting period between one message and another. Simultaneous feedbacks are not possible in case of emails, reducing the level of effectiveness of communication between respondents.

Communication through digitalized media results to communication via the internet, where the rhythm of such internet interaction is slower than what is witnessed in many other ways of communication. For instance, internet based communication is dependent on the speed of internet being used by recipients. In situations where the writer is connected to high speed internet while the receiver is connected to low speed internet, flow of information is interrupted. It is also worth noting that in such digitalized communication, respondents' habits significantly influence timing and the level of communication between parties. For instance, in case of emails, there are people who may have the tendency to read their emails after a day, week or hours. This implies that simultaneous feedback is delayed, resulting to delay in communication. Unless individuals has notifications on new emails in to other devices such as mobile phones, important messages may end up not being read, and by the time the recipient comes across the message, the value of such message could have been already lost. This significantly hinders effective communication between the sender and the recipient.

Conclusion

The above study confirms my view that digitally mediated communication adversely affects communication as well as self expression. Digitalized writing has led to loss of focus on audience by writers, reducing the efficacy of such communication. It has also resulted to increase in misunderstandings as writers try to communicate by wide group of audience, each member of the online audience with his or her own topic such as in chat rooms. Use of small mobile phone keys has facilitated use of creative writing and abbreviations, increasing instances of misunderstandings, reducing the ability of the writer to communicate. Self expression has also been limited through digitalized communication, where respondents experience delay in feedback and low ability to communicate all the desired information.

References

Crystal, D. (2006). Language and the Internet. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Davies, J., & Merchant, G. (2009). Web 2.0 for schools: Learning and social participation. New York: Peter
Lang.

Marsh, J., & Millard, E. (2013). Popular Literacy, Childhood and Schooling. UK: Rout ledge