Technology Overload

With technology rapidly expanding these days, it is not uncommon that some of us get caught up in its glory—the internet, instant messaging, e-mail, cell phones, etc. All these technological advances aid us in communicating with each other more easily. It brings everyone closer together globally as an instant message sent on msn from Canada can be received within seconds in Australia. Text-messaging, instant messaging and e-mailing all enable those who are shy in front of people to express their thoughts more at ease. Sometimes it brings out the passion in even the most introverted. As everything is expanded to include the internet, our reliance on it becomes stronger. More and more companies are starting to set up websites for its customers—information is now only a click away. The convenience the internet brings upon us is immense and almost everything can be accessed with it. We can now even read the newspaper and check the weather online. When the internet is able to provide so much for us, reading a book can seem obsolete. This is because we can now even download prints off the internet. Why go through the hassle of going to the bookstore or library when all we need to do is perch in front of our computers? This convenience actually decreases human interaction as more and more things are being replaced by machines. This internet hype is so popular that it even has its own language. As we begin to type more and more, words are shorten into abbreviations and have now become our way of communicating through msn via the internet or text messaging with our cell phones. Words are also created to express emotions as it is impossible to know what the other person's expression is by reading what they typed. As a result the amount of instant messaging and text messaging jargon is immense. An example of one is the infamous lol (laugh out loud). This "term" is used to express laughter or when we think something being typed by the other person is funny. However, this expression has been so over-used that it is starting to lose its meaning as a lot of the time we are not laughing or smiling whilst typing this abbreviation. Not only abbreviations are created with this e-media era, the spelling of English words is also becoming warped, creating the long list of slang we have now. I am not sure is this beneficial for the development of language or not since it is possible that this usage of slang can be used to create new words. A prime example of this is the word "bootylicious", most famously used by Destiny's Child in one of their songs and often said to be coined by Beyonce Knowles, a member of the group. This word which is meant to describe women with large, nice, sexy, buttocks is now in the Oxford Dictionary. Also, I think with this e-media frenzy, the book is more neglected then it was ten years back. I remember actually signing out books to do research when I was in elementary school. That is now rare thanks to the thousands of comprehensive databases made available for this specific purpose. However, I still enjoy reading off a book rather than on the computer screen. Something about the feeling of the paper and physically turning the pages still has its appeal to me. Personally, there is nothing more relaxing than to sit at home on a rainy day with a good book and a cup of hot chocolate or tea. I don't think the book is dead as many people still enjoy reading it, but with the internet expanding and almost dominating our lives, who knows, maybe in another ten years we will all be hooked up to mini laptops and reading literature off that.

-Cindy Chu