Cushman 1

Cassidy Cushman

ENC1101

Professor McGriff

October 31, 2019

Is Social Media Ruining The Way We Communicate?

Social Media established in 1997 what started as just a simple way to communicate,

Social Media has turned into a billion-dollar industry. Which has innovated the ways we

communicate with others online and in person. That means like talking on the phone through

various outlets such as Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook it has negative and its positive

impacts. Social Media affects our communication skills in many ways, Although three aspects

stuck out, how it affects our English Language, Has it increased or decreased our interactions

with peers and the dangers and good things to do with communicating this way.

With the world constantly evolving every day, it’s pretty clear to see that using more than one

way to communicate has added many new words to our dictionaries over the years. Which has

also produced new language issues such as people often deter from using complicated words and

instead use simpler speech. Crystal, David “2b or not 2b” 2018. Writes “English has had

abbreviated words ever since it began to be written down. Words such as exam, vet, fridge, cox,

and bus are so familiar that they have become new words”(Crystal 902). We as humans do this to

try and write how we naturally speak John McWhorter does a very nice job when explaining this

and how the English language adapts to this style of writing.“What texting is despite the fact

that it involves the brute mechanics of something that we call writing is fingered
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speech”(McWhorter 00:5:23-00:5:30). Which everyone blames this on the use of social media

and it has spread this concept around but this style of writing had been around for centuries but

we’ve just now started to perfect it.

Back in simpler times teens and adults had to take turns communicating via the landline, You

also had to wait to see your buddy in person at school that Monday to tell them what happened

last weekend. Now with this new technology, you don’t have to wait you have your very own

landline in your pocket. Which has ruined many of our social skills because many teens prefer

talking through a screen vs. in person. According to The New York Behavior Health “The

Impact of Social Media Use on Social Skills” 2016. “Teenagers, between the ages of 12-17,

report using text messages in their daily lives more than any other form of communication,

including face-to-face interaction (Lenhart, 2010). A large part of this generation’s social and

emotional development is occurring while on the Internet and cell phones”(pg 1/1). While it has

decreased our social interactions with our local peers, Texting and Social Media has opened up

the gates to an all-new international way of communicating, According to the Pew Research

Center 57% of teens make new friends via social media. The Pew Research Center also states

that “ Social media helps teens feel more connected to their friends’ feelings and daily lives, and

also offers teens a place to receive support from others during challenging times”.

Social Media and texting have allowed us to communicate in ways we’ve always

wanted to accomplish, writing out how we talk normally. With that being said it has also

opened up a whole new world of people into our lives good and bad. Which lead me to
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the negative side of communication on social media, Cyberbullies. Hiding behind the

mask of a computer makes some people feel safer others it brings out a dark side that

makes them say mean things to other users. This can also deter people from using these

sites to talk to people, but while it brings out the worst in some it also brings out the best

in others. Which outweighs the negativity that can occur.

With all the opinions weighing in on social media, It does more good than harm

than good by providing people with an outlet to contact people and make new friends. It

doesn’t harm the English Language as much as critics might suggest. According to John

McWhorter’s article “Is Texting Killing the English Language” with TIME magazine in

2013. “People banging away on their smartphones are fluently using a code separate from

the one they use in actual writing, and there is no evidence that texting is ruining

composition skills. Worldwide people speak differently from the way they write and

texting - quick, casual and only intended to be read once - is actually a way of talking

with your fingers” ( McWhorter ⅔). With that being said and the evidence presented is

texting and social media really all that bad?

Worked Cited

Gimpl, Nicole. “Internet Friends.” The Arizona State Press, 20 Mar. 2017,

https://www.statepress.com/article/2017/03/spmagazine-internet-friends-online-friendships-

more-common. Accessed: 30 October 2019

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“New York Behavioral Health.” New York Behavioral Health,

https://newyorkbehavioralhealth.com/the-impact-of-social-media-use-on-social-skills.

“57% Of Teens Have Made New Friends Online.” Pew Research Center: Internet, Science &

Tech, Pew Research Center, 5 Aug. 2015,

https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2015/08/06/teens-technology-and-

friendships/2015-08-06_teens-and-friendships_0-01-2/.

TED. “John McWhorter: Txtng Is Killing Language. JK!!!” YouTube, YouTube, 22 Apr. 2013,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmvOgW6iV2s&t=323s.

Lunsford, Andrea A., et al. Everyones an Author, with Readings. W.W. Norton & Company,

2017.

McWhorter, John. “Is Texting Killing the English Language?” Time, Time, 25 Apr. 2013,

http://ideas.time.com/2013/04/25/is-texting-killing-the-english-language/.