Has The Internet Ruined Modern Language?

Since the introduction and astronomical success of Apples initial iPhone in late June 2007 the
english language has seen its most significant additions and developments since the beginning of
Shakespeares era. With over 700 million iPhones sold worldwide prior to release, more people
than ever before are communicating daily via mobile devices as opposed to verbal, face to face
communication. Apples free, wifi-messaging service, iMessage (which comes pre-downloaded as
standard with every iPhone) has now made it easier for anyone with and iPhone to communicate
with each more efficiently than ever before possible.
Standard English (or The Queens English) is becoming increasingly less common amongst
societys younger demographic, which can be evidenced by simply scrolling through a Twitter
Timeline or Facebook Wall or the plain fact that 9 out of 10 children in the UK own a mobile
phone. Pop-Cultures use of abbreviations such as LOL, G2G and BRB, to name a few, have
had a significant effect on the way we interact with friends and family on text-messaging platforms
and social media sites, made possible and easily accessible by a wi-fi connection, which is notably
abundant in todays day and age. Although these abbreviations can be used to convey emotion and
condense longer sentences, due to their popularity and world-wide recognition, it can be argued
that they have encouraged laziness amongst those who are tech-savvy and hindered spelling &
grammar ability when it comes to their application in a real-world context.
With the fourth iteration of the iPhone came the introduction of emoji. With the first emoji being
created in Japan in 1999, emojis enabled users to eliminate the frustrating confusion of being
unable to convey emotion on text without explicitly stating said emotion in a blunt, time consuming
fashion. Emoji allowed users to exchange small images of cartoon faces with exaggerated facial
expressions alongside the text itself, making way for a revolutionary way of incorporating images
and text to work seamlessly, simultaneously to effectively extend understanding during
conversation. The most commonly used emoji being the smiling face with tears of joy, their
prevalence on social media and text applications is clear especially on sites such as Twitter with
limited characters set for within which users must express themselves. The implementation of such
a character limit has noticeably affected linguistic choices on the site and some have argued it has
condensed language on the site to such a basic level and children are the worst affected by this as
they make up a strong percentage of users on the site. Some have argued that the limit
encourages usage of shorter less complex vocabulary and places a barrier on creativity when
using the site. Parents have even expressed concern that the site encourages bad habits amongst
younger children who spend too much time on the site.
Perhaps a more complex and abstract opinion regarding the affect the internet has had on modern
language could be in relation to the media access it makes possible for users. Its more convenient
than ever for those who wish to do so to stream music, movies and any other type of files they wish
to access in an instant. Its relatively difficult to gauge the affect these forms of media consumption
have on its users. It can be argued that younger and more suggestive users of the popular video
streaming site Youtube learn language they may hear from the videos or music they access. This
would undoubtably have an affect on their written and spoken language choices in school or the

workplace as it enables them pick up new words simply from memory. The fact that successful,
young individuals can be found on youtube that a younger audience may be inspired by only
increases their likelihood of influencing children to speak in a specific style.
When considered extensively, the question Has the internet ruined modern language? becomes
more specifically Has technology ruined modern language?. Further deviation may come from an
individuals personal perspective of the modern language, as some may believe that both the
Internet and technology have propelled conventional spoken language to astounding new heights.