Social Media Turns You into a Better Writer. Find out Why
If you are an avid grammarian and spot unforgivable mistakes wherever you look and whatever you read, social media posts must be giving you quite a headache. Many scholars have argued about the negative and positive effects of Social Media on formal writing. However, a new study conducted by the Canadian linguist Gretchen McCulloch states the opposite. McCulloch published a book called Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language. In this controversial book, she basically highlights several reasons according to which, writing on social platforms is not as bad as we might taught from a language accuracy standpoint.
The author considers that this new way of writing which is not a threat to formal written communication. This is just a stage of language evolution that we simply cannot and should not fight against.
“We no longer accept that writing must be lifeless, that it can only convey our tone of voice roughly and imprecisely, or that nuanced writing is the exclusive domain of professionals.”
A linguistic truths that is no common knowledge is that language evolves, it therefore can’t be regulated by fixed patterns. The way we communicate on social media through the de expressions we use, the abbreviations that help us spare time and the emoticons that so often convey our feelings more than words are now a mirror of our thoughts and behavior. McCulloch defends our right to play with language and to create new rules for it according to how spoken language evolves:
“We’re creating new rules for typographical tone of voice. Not the kind of rules that are imposed from on high, but the kind of rules that emerge from the collective practice of a couple billion social monkeys — rules that enliven our social interactions.”
Moreover, the author points out that these disruptions in language are no novelty. The patterns of grammar and vocabulary have been challenged ever since the medieval monks were transcribing texts because, one is the written language and a totally different thing is a the spoken language, but, in the end, the second prevails over the first imposing its authority. Why does this happen Because people simply feel the need to communicate openly and naturally, either in written or in spoken language.
Finally, the linguist defends social media writing by ascertaining that understanding this language requires a level of in-depth knowledge as it is actually far more complex than we fail to see. Until one gets familiar with all the emoticons, abbreviations and use of symbols, it can take quite a while. Therefore, considering this the language of uneducated fools who read nothing but superficial posts all day would be quite unjust both to the users of SM and to the very language itself.