The digital generation (those born after 1990) has grown up in a world that even George Orwell could not imagine in his renowned novel, 1984. Not only is everyone consistently connected – albeit virtually – we are using language that our ancestors in Ancient Greece would never have envisioned.
American journalist, James J. Kilpatrick once said that, “words have jaws that bite and claws that catch” (Lederer, 2009); however, with the emergence of social media, especially visual communication tools such as Snap Chat, we can change this phrase to “[all texts] have jaws that bite…” Communication is changing, and those of us who are not of the digital generation must put away our underlying assumptions of today’s apps and social media and recognize a new form of language.
The ISTE Standard 7c asks that we “support educators and students to critically examine the source of online media and identify underlying assumptions.” This is not easy. My niece and I were sitting together at a family gathering over the summer, and I asked her what the pictures that she was constantly sending over Snap Chat meant. She said, “Aunt Td, we’re just talking!” Talking? Speaking? Discoursing? Orating? I could not see it. I am a high school English teacher; therefore, when I consider the connotation of talking, I envision using words. Speaking with someone with my voice. Typing an email with the English language. Not sending a quick picture of my smiling face; however, if we consider the roots of all language, they began in hieroglyphics – pictures. Seargeant, in his book The Emoji Revolution: how technology is shaping the future of communication, asks the question of people who grew up before 1990, “Would the language you foresaw be one designed not for the expression of rational thought but for sentiment? Invented to compensate for the growing emotional distance that characterized the way people were not relating to each other?” (Seargeant, 2019). Are we ready to concede that visual texts can be as powerful, and connective, as beautifully penned letters?
If we believe this, then we need to acknowledge that social media is influencing our interpersonal communications. In Green’s text, The Greek & Latin Roots of English, she begins the book, “‘Language is a city to the building of which every human being brought a stone.’ Ralph Waldo Emerson’s words are a recognition that the development of language and the ways in which we use it have been, in large measure, historically and culturally determined” (Green, 2020). The digital generation is creating a language that may seem disconnected and anything but communicative; however, in a study conducted by Hollenbaugh et al, it was determined, through the use of Gratification Theory, that college students who engaged with social media to create community and fulfil the needs for social interaction were positively impacted in their predictors of interpersonal communication competencies (Hollenbaugh, 2020).
Lederer (2009) states that, “Language is like the air we breathe. It’s invisible, inescapable, indispensable, and we take for granted” (p.4). A lot has changed in the last 11 years; because, now it seems, that language can be visible. Students in the classroom, grabbing their phones during break to send a quick pic to their friend (who may be in the same room) has as much to say as a quick note I send to a fellow teacher in the next room who is struggling. My old-school, English teacher brain is having a hard time with this. I grieve the lack of words. I grieve grammatically correct sentence structure. I grieve reading. I do not see a solution to my dilemma, other than to say that I am grateful that my students are still communicating – in whatever form that may be.
References:
Green, T. M. (2020). The Greek & Latin roots of English. Rowman & Littlefield Publishing.
Hollenbaugh, E. E., Ferris, A. L., & Casey, D. J. (2020). How do Social Media Impact Interpersonal Communication Competence? A Uses and Gratifications Approach. In 977332613 757636973 M. Desjarlais (Author), The psychology and dynamics behind social media interactions (pp. 20-47). IGI Global, Information Science Reference (an imprint of IGI Global).
Lederer, R. (2009). Crazy fractured English: Two bestselling books in one. Pocket Books.
Seargeant, P. (2019). The emoji revolution: How technology is shaping the future of communication. Cambridge University Press.
