Monday, April 12, 2010

From our Native Tongue to our Naive texts


I realized the other day that my phone is dying like really dying . Its inside screen has discontinued its function which in turn is limiting my own functions. I have been unable to read texts that extend over a certain amount of characters and the other day its front screen started to spas out and I mistakenly deleted a text from someone which I am sure will come back to haunt me later. Sure, I would be fine with out my phone no problem, I lived in the 90's once, but I will not be so fine with the assumptions that will be made by my friends and family after my phone dyes as to why I am all of a sudden not responding to texts or calls my mother especially. Even though I am more than able to speak to my friends personally to rectify this issue I am less likely to "run" into them with out arranging a meeting or being informed of a get together via phone text. So until class or a club function or they check facebook they will probably assume everything you can imagine.
Perhaps maybe I am not answering my phone because I am mad, lost or avoiding human contact. This once happened where a friend confessed almost every offense for fear that I was giving them the silent treatment. When really I might just have a dead phone. How did we ever communicate in the 90's?
Our ever dependence on artificial forms of emotion like the smiley :) the wink ;) or what ever you can make of this......... lml(0-0)lml........... have caused us to be an ever more artificial assuming society. For example a person may be used to their friend always ending their text conversations with a smiley :) but then when they forget to include a :) assume a serious tone even when they fail to include one of these :( >( . Notice the difference in these two phrases, " your such a goof" and , "your such a goof ;)" one could be read as a demeaning statement and the other could be taken as far as to be a flirty gesture.
When there is an absence of our second language, technology, we some how forget to return to our native language in natural forms of expression and everything goes to chaos.
I think that we have always been a culture that assumes, but whether our assumptions have leaned on the side of optimistic or pessimistic I suspect has changed. Just as our view of the future used to be upward and positive filled with the space age visions of Utopian living I think our assumptions may have been less quick to sour. In the twilight zone it took half a day at least for motives to become questionable. Now with our dreams dampened with doomsday disarray I feel that we have become quicker to judge. Technology has made information so much easier to miss read in a time where your world could change with one text with in one second.

With all the ways we use visual stimulus and technology to replace the natural human emotion we tend to forget how we used to function and communicate. Our language like all languages has changed enough to leave us guessing when we are forced to return to our native tongue instead of our naive texts.

2 comments:

  1. This concept is so interesting, and so true. The whole aspect of communication is constantly changing and evolving with technology, and while it is intended to make our lives easier and keep up with fast pace society, it is in turn negatively effecting something that we have always had, our voices. Texting was originally a form of fast communication. It allowed you to avoid the long, unwanted phone call accompanying an intended quick conversation. This new application to technology has now evolved into everyday means of communication, long conversations, and unintentionally a means of avoiding a one on one actual conversation over the phone. I have recently seen on tv, this new phone that allows you to send extremely long text messages at record speed. Is this really necessary? If you are trying to have a long conversation with someone, wouldn't it just make sense to call them? A few years ago, sure, but today, with all the advanced in technology, it only makes sense to see this new phone application as "GREAT!" ...aaaand we will continue to deal with the conflicts and missunderstandins that follow.

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  2. WHATS WRONG WITH TEXT AND INTERNET LANGUAGE? If you look back on all new technology no one knew how to handle the language change right away. Our technology is the reason we don't speak like we're in the 1700's or the 50's. Texting seems vulgar and unsophisticated because the language hasn't been synthesized yet. Someday the abreviations we use now on devices will become common speak in all media. It's making our society more close and interwoven becasue we have new expressionism in letters and punctuation.

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