Number of Posts: 11
Posts 1 - 10
I can't be trusted with Google's texting app
Newspaper | Telegraph
Date | 19.5.2016
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | Google, language threat, texting, word/writing, youth
Summary | Google's new Allo app is supposed to make you save time while you're texing, but it can sometimes lead to misunderstandings. The author of the article doesn't really like emojis and doesn't know how to use them well. She doesn't follow young people's digital habits. Their generation favors brevity, which can have a negative impact on language.
Image Description | Photograph of two young girls on their smartphones, two smartphones displaying chat conversations, and a man standing in front of a screen displaying "Allo" and "Duo".
Image Tags | female(s), male(s), smartphone, text
Hinter dem Hashtag #BlauerWal steckt eine verstörende Geschichte
(A disturbing story hides behind the hashtag #BlueWhale)
Newspaper | Welt
Date | 18.5.2017
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | (mental) health, hashtags, law, social media, threat, youth
Summary | Currently, a man is on trial in Russian courts for supposedly urging 15 teenagers to commit suicide. The case is connected to the #BlueWhale challenge that is said to circulate online on social media. It is a lethal game where one person gives another increasingly self-destructive tasks. Apparently, psychologically fragile teenagers are targeted online.
Image Description | Getty image of a blue whale and images of a man being arrested and in trial with his face pixellated.
Image Tags | male(s)
Dieser Chatbot reserviert den Tisch fürs Abendessen
(This chatbot makes dinner reservations)
Newspaper | Welt
Date | 27.7.2017
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | artificial intelligence, Facebook, language threat, youth
Summary | Facebook messenger now has the chatbot Botmio on offer which lets users make dinner reservations at restaurants. This is perfect for younger generations who are reluctant to pick up the phone to call a human to make a reservation - digital natives are "language lazy". They would rather just make a reservation online without interacting with another human.
Image Description | A hand holding a smartphone using a Facebook chatbot and a portrait of the Botmio inventer.
Image Tags | Facebook, hand(s), male(s), smartphone
«Jpp», «wtf», «oklm»... maîtrisez-vous le parler jeune?
("Jpp", "wtf", "oklm"... do you master teenagers' language?)
Newspaper | Le Figaro
Date | 25.8.2016
Language | French
Country | France
Topic Tags | abbreviations, language threat, texting, youth
Summary | Young people tend to use a lot of words and abbreviations that are unintelligible, according to many parents and professors. Their language is very creative and is influenced by our ancestors' language. Writer Stéphane Ribeiro claims that young people's language is a melting pot; it is a mix of American and historical expressions. Moreover, the language used by today's youth has been influenced by new technologies and the texting culture. It is not a threat to the French language; language is constantly changing and evolving
Image Description | Photograph of five young people looking happy, screenshots of two tweets depicting the use of abbreviations, and "Top Wesh" video.
Image Tags | female(s), male(s), text, Twitter
El reto lingüístico que tienen por delante los "nativos digitales"
(The linguistic challenge facing the "digital natives")
Newspaper | infobae
Date | 6.6.2014
Language | Spanish
Country | Argentina
Topic Tags | language threat, spelling, youth
Summary | The digital natives are running the risk of simplifying language and critical thinking too much, according to an international seminar where linguists, journalists, and social media experts met. Some of the experts regret the fact that linguistic normativity and unity might be in danger. Others are worried that the new generation might only know how to use digital technologies, which might lead to a simplification of language and critical thinking. This is why we need to inform future generations of the different registers they can use. Experts also talked about the role of journalists in the digital era.
Image Description | Three photographs: four young people using their phone, a woman (face cut off) using her phone, and a man (face cut off) using a tablet
Image Tags | female(s), male(s), smartphone, tablet
Abusar de los "Emojis": ¿el nuevo enemigo del lenguaje?
(Abusing emojis: the new enemy of language?)
Newspaper | infobae
Date | 13.1.2016
Language | Spanish
Country | Argentina
Topic Tags | emojis, language threat, youth
Summary | An Instagram study revealed that emojis are becoming more popular and are replacing words in messages. Linguist Silvia Ramirez Gelbes claims that using emojis allows users to say something very precise in one click -whereas using words would take longer. Are emojis detrimental to written language? According to the linguist, emojis are not harmful and they are not a "youth phenomenon".
Image Description | Photograph of a man (head cut off) holding a selfie stick and taking a selfie; he is also wearing five emoji medals around his neck.
Image Tags | emojis, male(s), selfie stick, smartphone
Studenten können nicht mehr richtig schreiben
(Students cannot write properly anymore)
Newspaper | 20 Minuten
Date | 21.1.2015
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | language threat, school, spelling, texting, youth
Summary | Students' writing skills are poorer than in previous years. It may be due to the fact that elementary schools no longer correct every spelling mistake in first and second grade but rather value content over form. Another reason that can explain students' lower writing skills is new media use. Most of young people's writing and reading is done through new media nowadays, and informal writing is prevalent in those digital spheres. The increasing informalization of language on social media is seen as a threat to our language.
Image Description | Photograph taken from behind of an elementary classroom with children.
Image Tags | female(s), male(s), school
Junge schreiben - mehr als je zuvor
(Young people write – more than ever)
Newspaper | St. Galler Tagblatt
Date | 29.1.2016
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | language threat, smartphone, texting, word/writing, youth
Summary | Ever since the Swiss youth did poorly in the PISA survey of 2000, critics have been blaming new technologies for deteriorating young people's linguistic skills. English literature lecturer Mario Andreotti however outlines that today's teens write more than previous generations, albeit less formally, because they use their phones to write rather than talk. Because texting does not follow the rigid formal rules of writing but rather is just spoken discourse written down, some experts assume that these relaxed writing habits may worsen students’ writing skills in general.
Image Description | Photograph of three teenagers who are not interacting: two of them are looking at their phones.
Image Tags | male(s), smartphone
Il faut archiver nos vies pour que l’histoire vivante ne s’arrête pas
(We need to archive our lives so that history does not stop)
Newspaper | La Tribune de Genève
Date | 26.3.2014
Language | French
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | language threat, research/study, school, spelling, texting, youth
Summary | Some people claim that writing with abbreviations is harmful for standard language. Others claim that it does not; some studies demonstrate that students can perfectly write abbreviations and their "standard" equivalent. Moreover, a study showed that students who are skilled in text message language have also better spelling skills in general. Writing is part of our culture; we write more and more. Thus, our practices resemble our forefathers’. The only difference is that nowadays it is more difficult to save and record our texts, whereas in the past people used to keep their letters and messages.
Image Description | Photograph of Benjamin Chaix, the author of the opinion piece.
Image Tags | male(s)
"La génération du baby-boom prend l’avenir en otage"
("The baby boom generation is taking the future hostage")
Newspaper | Le Matin Dimanche
Date | 13.4.2014
Language | French
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | language threat, spelling, texting, youth
Summary | Interview with Patrick Nussbaum, one of the authors of the book “C’était mieux avant” (“It was better in the past”). Nussbaum doesn’t like the way the baby boomer generation cultivates nostalgia and thinks that current and future generations will have a terrible destiny. Unlike what older people claim, younger people are not that scared about their future. In his book, he also talks about spelling, claiming that writing is constantly changing. New technologies offer new ways of expression, but do not kill language. Also, young people use new technologies for sociability and solidarity, which are two important values.
Image Description | Photograph of the interviewee: Patrick Nussbaum.
Image Tags | male(s)
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