Electronic Technology and its Effect on Communication

For better or worse, electronic technology has hugely impacted how people across the world can communicate with each other, not only easing communication but also introducing novel forms of communication which largely did not exist in physical environments. Although technology has benefited communication by allowing for a rapid transmission of information across great distances, the negative social impacts of this new communication technology – especially amongst adolescents – are numerous and have already caused much harm to society. The proliferation of electronic technology has contributed to various language combinations as well as seemingly generation-specific language dialects, the former fostering multiculturalism and the latter contributing to societal divisions, both of which will likely continue to develop and intensify over the years.

Electronic technology has revolutionized how humans communicate using language both by speeding up communication and by enabling long-distance communication. Before the proliferation of electronic technology, the ways in which humans have been able to communicate have been relatively restricted – most people were confined to communicating either through mail or by meeting with a person in real life. Although both methods are still used today and were certainly helpful at the time, they were both extremely languid and not ideal for communication with individuals around the world. Although the speed of mail has greatly increased over the years, mail usually still takes at least a day to arrive at its destination, and usually takes longer to arrive – especially if the destination is a different country. Although mail could be used over long distances, it was both slow and expensive. Speaking to a person in real life was quick when the person who one wanted to communicate with lived close by, although this communication method was certainly not ideal for people who lived vast distances apart and wanted to stay in touch. Because of the deficiency of alternatives to sending mail or speaking to a person in real life, both methods were used widely at the time, but modern electronic technology has now claimed the largest sphere of influence in the communications realm. Modern electronic technology has enabled people to communicate through methods such as text messages, phone calls and even video calls, each of which can be made immediately and can allow for the rapid transmission of information and can allow people to communicate regardless of their relative geographic locations. As a former project leader at the European Space Agency, my grandfather recalled the revolutionary impact of new communication technologies for international space efforts. Before the creation of these communication technologies, coordinating efforts between various European nations and their respective space agencies was extremely laborious. My grandfather described needing to travel through Europe regularly to meet with different teams throughout Europe who were contributing to the same project. As he reflected, much time was lost through this incessant travel. As new communication technologies began to surface, the introduction of phone calls allowed my grandfather to easily communicate with teams, and the eventual introduction of the first basic video conferencing platforms allowed teams throughout Europe to meet with each other and helped reduce much wasted time which teams had to spend travelling to meet other teams, to discuss progress and to work together. As a result of this new ease of communicating rapidly on a global level (which continues to this day due to the various technologies which are continuously evolving), speaking to friends, colleagues and family members across the globe has become much easier. In turn, this has led to interesting mixtures and fusions of languages and cultures, since people previously separated due to geographical barriers are now able to communicate using electronic technologies. This enhanced communication between people has allowed for many language and culture exchanges. For example, by texting with someone who is in Germany, a person in the United States may end up taking certain language elements of phrasing methods from the German, whilst the German may similarly take up certain elements of the English language as interpreted by Americans. Through the ability to communicate quickly and on a global scale which is enabled by various electronic technologies, many people now use a wider variety of different cultural and linguistic elements from the people with which they communicate, thereby gradually forming language “fusions” and leading to new words entering mainstream culture.

Although the breaking down of geographic communication barriers and the proliferation of quick communication are certainly positive aspects of electronic technology used for communication purposes, this electronic technology has also lead to a multitude of disastrous effects (especially in the form of social media) and has also lead to an increasing divide between generations and their respective “dialects.” With the influx of online methods of communication, many individuals (especially teenagers) have flocked to phones as a method of communication between friends. Although electronic communication was mainly intended for long-distance communication, many teenagers today communicate with each other (whilst all still on the same campus) through text messages, which often contributes to these adolescents having less face-to-face peer interaction and failing to do activities with their friends. Especially in recent year, the number of teenagers on their phones during school breaks has sharply risen, an effect which is likely observed because of the effects of social media. Whilst most electronic technologies before social media attempted to simply replicate physical experiences between people who already knew each other, social media has led many to find new and fully online “friends,” whilst also often providing inspirations (especially for teens) and providing an outlet for communicating with the world. Although the benefits of the social media medium are clear, social media communication also poses numerous important issues. One of the key issues with social media involves fake online friends, often bullies or scammers, who (given the inability to clearly vet identity on social media platform) connect with a variety of people on social media and often thereafter engage in unkind or exploitative activities. Especially for teenagers or children who have few friends in their “real life,” a seemingly willing and kind friend online is often viewed as entirely benevolent by the teenager or child, and these fake friends often take up bullying, pressuring or otherwise physically or emotionally hurting the individual in question. Another problem with social media is the rapid rise to prominence of certain individuals who are quickly admired by others and often also imitated. In an attempt to become “popular,” many teenagers try to strictly conform to the values and appearances of the latest trending social media inspirations, but this often leads to a focus on physical traits of an individual, thereby contributing to issues such as low self-esteem and low self-confidence. In an attempt to gain the admiration of fellow students or of other people in the world, many adolescents use social media to stay with the latest developments and thereby try to gain their own popularity. Both in more old-fashioned styles of electronic communication (e.g. phone calls, text messages) and in social media, different generations slowly have started using different words, abbreviations, communication strategies and sentence formats in online formats. Given the ever-increasing prevalence of online communication, and the fact that many adolescents today spend much of their day on social media or online communication platforms, it is clear that the language spoken by these individuals is often reflective of what they use and see in online settings. For example, the Gen Z often uses abbreviations such as “smh” (short for “shaking my head”) or “ik” (short for “I know”), both of which are unlikely to be understood by most adults in older generations. Similarly, younger generations will develop words and abbreviations of their own for use in the online communication methods they utilize. Gradually, as is exemplified by Gen Z, the words, abbreviations and sentence structures used in text communication or in social media posts spread into spoken language. Already, many people already say “LOL” when they find something funny, thereby gradually replacing other components of language such as stating “That’s so funny” or simply laughing. The formation of niche communication systems, which seem to differ greatly between generations, largely due to technological advances in communication contribute to making communication between different age groups trickier, thereby creating age-group divisions in society. As the case of many adolescents and their widespread use of social media exemplifies, electronic communication technology has several disastrous consequences for teen socialization and adolescent psychology, self-esteem and self-confidence, but these new communication methods and the time which adolescents devote to them often ultimately result in divisions between generations with the formation of unique “dialects” used for online communication which slowly spread into spoken life.

Given the current pattern of the spread of communication technology, it is likely that language will gradually approach a form which combines elements of many different languages, and it is further likely that the growing divide between language generations will continue to intensify. Because of the global communication which is enabled by electronic technology, people communicating with each other from across the globe will continue to result in ever-increasing cross-influences of various languages. In turn, many languages will become increasingly multicultural, using words or grammatical structures from different languages which influence the languages in question. Depending on the demographics of people and who they communicate with, different languages will wield different amounts of influence on specific languages. While the path forward in terms of language is unclear, it is likely that this path will either involve a great level of increased multiculturalism in most world languages or the creation of a unified and highly international language which incorporates elements from various languages across the world. Another trend which will likely continue to pervade language in the future is an increasing divide between the “dialects” of a language used by different generations. Due to the large amount of time which many children and teenagers today spend on online communication platforms and social media, many children and adolescents incorporate the language used in messaging and in social media posts into their real-life language. In turn, the increasing and diverse range of abbreviations, new words and new grammatical structures introduced with each new generation (or possibly even each new birth year) causes an increasing amount of language stratification, in which individuals in different generations speak very different forms of a language. Though this pattern is not prominent yet, the difference between Gen Z and older generations in their respective uses and structuring of language is indicative of a pattern which will likely intensify over the years. As communication technology continues to evolve, language will probably continue to become increasingly international and multicultural but increasing language differences between the “dialects” of different generations will contribute to increasing linguistic societal divisions.

In conclusion, the emergence of communication technologies has brought with it (and continues to bring) many changes in how humans communicate through language and has also had numerous positive and negative effects. Communication technologies have allowed people to quickly communicate globally, thereby contributing to an increasingly “international” language, and this trend of expanding multiculturalism in languages is likely to continue over the years. Simultaneously, communication technologies have also been the channels for bullying and have also often had the disastrous effects of reducing self-esteem and self-confidence in children and adolescents and the large amount of time which minors spend with online communication has largely contributed to the formation of generation-specific sub-languages or “dialects” which differ slightly in their words, abbreviations and grammar.