Language and New Media

[semperetperpetuum-blog]

Gamification is defined as being ‘the application of typical elements of game playing (e.g. point scoring, competition with others, rules of play) to other areas of activity, typically as an online marketing technique to encourage engagement with a product or service’. The way I see it, it’s turning everyday life into some sort of challenge or game. 

We have apps for everything; literally everything. We have sleep apps, running apps, timetable apps, heart rate monitoring apps, diet and fitness apps - the list is pretty much endless. Although some people disagree with the fact that most things we do in life can now be monitored through our smart phones, I don’t see the issue with it.  If there’s one thing most people like, it’s feeling as if you’ve achieved something. The feeling we get when we’ve been told that we’ve won or succeeded at something is simply euphoric. We’re more likely to try harder at something if we’re going to be ‘rewarded’ at the end of it. 

If having an app on our phones is going to make us eat better, exercise more, plan our time wisely and make the most mundane things in life seem more challenging and fun, then please, bring on more apps because I personally am ready to win at absolutely everything I do in life - even if I am just competing against the goals that I’ve set for myself. 

[semperetperpetuum-blog]

When this photo was taken, I was sitting in the cutest little brunching place near my house in Cyprus with two of my best friends. When the waitress brought us our food she put the plates in the middle of the table like we asked her to, and then promptly left. That’s when Leda (one of my friends) stood up, moved everything around, added car keys and sunglasses onto the collection of things that were on our table, and told us to push our chairs back so that she could take a picture. The rest of the time we spent in this quirky café was spent by us talking about the evening we had planned for that day, choosing outfits, solving the world’s problems and you guessed it- trying to find two captions and filters for this picture. One for Facebook, so that I could post it, and one for Instagram so that Leda could post it. So I guess what I’m getting at here is that although in some cases using phones when with friends is anti-social, if what we’re doing on our phones can become a group activity then I don’t see what the issue is. Taking pictures of food and drinks, having one final scroll through Facebook and checking that last Snapchat story before the actual conversation starts with your friends is now becoming an actual thing, and as long as once we’ve all quickly inspected social media I get to hang out and have a great time with my friends then I don’t really care if they want to take pictures of the food every time we go out; because the chances are that I’ll be doing it to!

[semperetperpetuum-blog]

It seems that commitment issues these days stretch further than human relationships or owning a dog. We are now facing commitment issues with things such as whether we want our latest social media update to be permanent or not. When making the decision of what and where to post our latest picture or video it seems that the idea of non-permanence can sometimes seem very attractive to us. 

Snapchat has become the go to app for images and videos that we want to post but we don’t want to keep online forever - a silly video of you and your friends dancing, a picture of your siblings using the latest snapchat filter. Things that are funny and of relevance today but won’t be tomorrow. The only threat to this is other people’s ability to screenshot what you post, but you hope to avoid this by trusting the people that you have as your snapchat contacts. 

This is soo different to the world of instagram where what you post is permanent, and often of higher importance than what you would post anywhere else. 

So here’s my question, is the idea of non-permanence leading to the belief and the act of us posting snippets of our ‘actual’ lives on snapchat and the more refined, carefully planned clips of our lives on instagram? Why have we got to this stage where things being permanent is just about the scariest thing that can happen to us? I for one, will happily admit that my social media commitment issues stem from knowing that everything is judged by everyone these days, so until I can get over that, I’m just going to stick to putting the silly stuff on snapchat and the more refined, prettier ‘memories’ on instagram. 

[semperetperpetuum-blog]

Emojis are one of the most celebrated features of modern day communication. Everyone uses emojis in some way, and the fact that they can be found on most mobile phones and apps makes it even more inevitable that the colourful little pictures that were created in order to help us express our emotions will be used. 

The question is, why do we actually use them? The answer is pretty simple, an emoji serves its purpose- it’s probably the only thing in this day and age that does what it says on the pack; it tells the person we’re texting/messaging how we feel at the time of the text. A madly in love couple can add a face with hearts as eyes to the end of their sentence to make sure that their bf/gf knows just how much they love them at 7:30 am (personally I love no one that early in the morning, but each to their own). 

Sarcasm, love, anger, happiness - the list is endless. Emotion through writing has never been clearer - just make sure you’re using the right emojis, otherwise you might get yourself into trouble by putting a tears of joy face instead of a crying face when your friend tells you that her goldfish died!

[semperetperpetuum-blog]

Are we two faced - Or are we simply showing the world the different elements that make us who we are?

The theories say that our identities are just one long-lasting, ever-changing performance through life. We portray a different identity depending on who we’re with, what we’re doing and where we are. Mark Zuckerberg says otherwise.  He says that we only have one identity; but what does he know anyway?

I personally believe that we have one identity that we portray in different ways, so beneath the various different portrayals there is always the underlying common denominator- me, or in your case, you. Who we are as a person isn’t necessarily what we come across as in our perfectly edited, beautifully laid out, well thought out captioned Instagram posts but the underlying factor of what we post is in fact an aspect of our identities – that’s a fact that just cannot be ignored.

So Mr. Zuckerberg whilst we’re on the same page essentially, maybe you should make some allowances for the fact that a person’s identity is more complex than just what we see and show at face value. An identity is much like an onion in the sense that there are multiple layers and different ways of seeing it. A fried onion, is different to a roasted onion but at the end of the day still an onion.

So are we two faced? No. However, we do all have the capacity to seem like a different person to every person we meet and talk to, because how we choose to speak and act around different people and situations is simply us depicting various parts of our identity. So my last words are ‘go for it’. Be perfect on Instagram, a mess on Facebook, professional on Linked In and whatever you want to be in person, because at the end of the day you’re still you no matter what.

[semperetperpetuum-blog]

In the modern world of today where everyone has some form of technological communication device, the art of maintaining and dissolving any kind of relationship has an added dimension to it. Gone are the days of meeting face to face to talk about the faux pas that our significant other has committed, and with that the art of being tactful and practicing incredible self-control in situations where all you want to do is scream, shout and cry is also starting to become extinct. 

Now, all someone needs to do is think of exactly what they want to say, type it and send it. BOOM - breaking up made easy. We now have no reason not to be brutal and avoiding the tears and heartbreak of the breakee in person is actually a possibility. Or do we? 

The screenshot. This is the only pitfall of this new form of breaking up with someone. What the breaker says to the breakee is not private- under any circumstances. No sir, what the breaker says is instantly sent to the breakee, the breakee’s friends and possibly even their family. There is no risk of words being manipulated because what the breaker sends is what the world sees; word for word. 

So I guess what I’m trying to say is that yes, the breaker can now attempt to make the process of ending a relationship as impersonal and quick as possible through the means of technology, however I suggest you do it at your own risk. Even if you are opting for the easy way out, try and keep your language use polite, sympathetic or tactful. If you choose not to do this, brace yourself my dear breaker, the power of the screenshot will most likely ruin you and your reputation. 

[semperetperpetuum-blog]

Anonymity - Freedom - Options

Language these days is limitless - we no longer communicate within the predefined boundaries of spoken and written language. We live in an era that enables us to send videos, create giphs, caption images with meaningful or sometimes just funny captions. Most importantly however, media has influenced language in such a way that it has become universal. This may sound silly, saying that language is now universal, but before new media provided a platform for the world to use, language was limited in the ways in which people could express their opinions, their views and values.

Media has provided the world with the option of being anonymous. Anonymity- anonymous; the power of being known through being unknown. Media has given us that option- the option to say as you please, let the world know how you feel. Media has given us freedom- the freedom of writing the way you want without feeling the pressures from the “outside” world to conform to what is believed to be right. 

This blog will set out to explore how new media influence on language has enabled the world to use language freely, creatively and more importantly personally. Yes, language within new media can also have some negative outcomes and results but if used respectfully then new media can indeed make language limitless and more powerful than ever.