The impact of the new communication methods

With the upcoming of Internet and all the new communication methods as Email, Beeper, Faxes, SMS …etc. A revolution was seen in human’s communication methods. In the earlier fifty and sixty, letters spent days or weeks from a city to another. Actually people in different continents can not only exchange mails but also have a videoconference.

Working in a large company and based in Algeria, I had a chance to support users in different countries (UK and UAE) having the desktop shared and the control of the machine. it was a pleasure to provide users with the appropriate assistance and help without moving from my desk.

An important part of our life was impacted by all the new communication technologies. New jobs were created, while existent others have been significantly changed and improved. Another important impact is the appearance of new terms, contractions, abbreviations and smileys in our discussions. We can see a wide use of these new terms in the social networks, forums and chat sites. Social networks such as Facebook, twitter, linked…etc. have attracted an important community. Today, there are more than 500 million active users on Facebook and they spend over 700 billion minutes per month [1].

I personally think that these new terms do not represent any risk for written languages. The main reason behind the use of such contractions, slang or icons is the interactivity and the speed by which the discussion is conducted. While talking to another person in social network, it is important to have the discussion fluent and the idea transmitted, none will blame the other in case of grammatical errors or the use of a word in place of other.

Responding to the question of this discussion, the use of contractions, slangs abbreviations …etc. signal the development of a new communication style. This applies for many languages and not English.

Another important point about Internet, is its impact on social movements. “Internet have transformed the capacity of social movements to build coalitions and networks for causes, principle and other reasons.” [3]

Finally, I would say that social network phenomena and Internet dependence, in addition to the benefits they offer, could have a negative impact on peoples. As Dr Sanjukta stated “A generation of Internet users who have never known a world where you can’t surf on-line may be growing up with a different and potentially dangerous view of the world and their own identity”, according to a warning delivered to the Annual Meeting of the Royal College of Psychiatrists.[2]

References:

[1] Online Conference on networks and communities,“Social Networking Sites; more harm than good?”. Curtin University, Department of Internet Studies. 2011.
Available online http://networkconference.netstudies.org/2011/04/social-networking-sites-more-harm- than-good/

[2] Dr Sanjukta Acharya “Psychiatrist warns about impact of social networking sites”. Royal College of Psychiatrists, July 2008.
Available online http://www.rxpgnews.com/psychology/Expert_Psychiatrist_and_RXPGNEWS_founder_warns_about_im pact_of_social_networking_sites_103108.shtml

[3] Mila Gascó Hernández,Fran Equiza-López,Manuel Acevedo-Ruiz , “Information Communication Technologies And Human Development: Opportunities and Challenges”, 2007. ISBN: 1-59904-057-3