Has social media hurt our language | Teen Ink

Has social media hurt our language

March 9, 2015
By REx18 BRONZE, Lexington, Kentucky
REx18 BRONZE, Lexington, Kentucky
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

Is social media really ruining our language? Flakes! wtf bae be tripn. Turnt up for no school.#luvsnow. Post like that debate over the effects of social media on the English language. The controversy pits those who believe social media corrupts the use of language against those who find any use of language in social media improves communication and awareness.


Social media has not harmed our language. But instead it has helped our language . One example of this being how social media new words or acronyms are not really new. One quote that supports this is in Mallary Tenores 5 ways that social media benefits writing and language where she says "the word 'friending' Marie says, has actually 'been a transitive word since the 13th century.' we just end to use the word 'befriend' instead."This shows how friended which is a common word used in social media as a replacement for befriend was actually used a lot longer than the word befriend has been used. Thus proving not all words or acronyms are new saying some words are actually used a lot longer before words used in proper grammar now.


Another example of how social media has not harmed our language but has actually helped us is that people now on social media are having better conversations with one another. This helps us learn about one another better. Which did not happen until after social media has started being used. One quote that supports this is from Simon Kurpers how social media improved writing , Where he says "A woman I know says only after the internet arrived did she realise her mother was semi-literate." This proves that with social media people are having better conversations , Thus helps learn about one another.


Now the people who believe social media has corrupt the use of our language have a few reasons of their own. One example of these reasons being that they think People are lazy because of all the new acronyms or words that are being used to change words. One quote that supports this statement is in  how texting is changing English by Mignon Forgarty. Where she says "abbreviations such as '18' for late and the letter 'u' for the word 'you.' And I've certainly heard arguments that people write this way because they're lazy and trying to save keystrokes". The author later then talks about a refutation to this where she says "first, people are writing out s-l-a-s-h instead of using the symbol, which would only be one character." This proves that the word slash and other acronyms are not made because the writer is lazy or because they're trying to save keystrokes because typing or writing / is more simpler than writing out the word slash.


Social media use does not harm the use of our language among young peoples today  of the English language. Through many reasons this is proven. The facts I have used such as that the new words or acronyms that kids and teenagers use, not all of them are new therefor proving that some words or acronyms used today were used way before their proper vocabulary words now. I also said that people are having better conversations with one another on social media thus proving with social media ,information being shared and talks between people are being shared better than what they would have together face to face. One more thing I said in this argument was a reason for people who believe social media has corrupted our language, however I came up with a refutation with that. With these reasons it shows that social media even with the claims against it. It shows that social media has not hurt our language but has helped it.



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matt18 said...
on May. 22 2016 at 10:01 pm
Matt Social Media Hurts How often do you use social media? Has it started to take over your world? Social media is not always used in the most effective way. Lately, it has been noticed that social media could be possibly affecting the way we write. Social media is hindering our ability to write. To begin, social media is making it so we don’t write with good grammar, spelling, and punctuation that we used to write with. In the article “The Period is Pissed” by Ben Crair, he states that people “only used sentence final punctuation 39% of the time”. This being said, proves that the way we write is degrading. Even though the periods is just in text, people will get used to it and start to put it into their writing. Imagine writing without periods. There would be no stopping point. Where would you catch your breath? You wouldn’t. Many people believe that social media is bettering our communication. They think that you can communicate more, you can communicate faster, and it is more convenient. Although those are all very good things, and may be true, it is the way in which we write that is making us lazy. We don’t have to talk face to face to people anymore. It is also make us lose our ability to write properly. For example, as it states in the “Luv 2 TXT” article, “the way we type when we use virtual communication devices affects the way we spell.” This shows that social media or any other “virtual communication” affects the way we spell, and therefore affects the way we write. Social media is making it so we are hurting our writing skills. Writing is a skill we will always need. Whether it be for a job, a letter, or anything else we write. Poor grammar will reflect on us. If we can’t figure something out, communication is going to continue to hurt our writing.