Have you ever found yourself speaking in text language out
in the “real world”? I certainly have. I’m sure you’ve all experienced
situations where you respond to conversations with comments like “rofl”, “ceebs”,
“totes” and have even come to the point of being too lazy to laugh so you
respond by actually saying “LOL”. These informal ways of speaking are greatly
picked up through communicating on the internet through social networking
sites. It seems like we now have a whole new, more universal language to
interact with each other across the globe. The fact that text talk has
transferred from the social networking sites to reality highlights how
influential the language is. In saying this, we must take into consideration the
context in which it should be used. Text language in reality may come off more
offensive than actually meant, which is why people tend to make their speech more
formal depending on who they’re talking too.
What’s also funny is how text language can be used in a way
to insult people through social media, and more interestingly, people are able
to do this anonymously. An article by Nirvi (2011), talks about the ways that
social medias negatively impact the lives of teenagers especially and even in
adults within society. Social networking such as; Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr
allow for people to either make comments anonymously or easily create an
account with a fake identity. Cyberbullying has resulted because of this rise
of anonymous comments. Formspring is one outlet which is notorious for being a
place to trash talk people without giving away your identity. In an attempt to
control this growing trend of cyberbullying, social medias such as YouTube are
now encouraging the use of full names instead of usernames so identities of
cyberbullies can be recognised.
So before you start picking up your phones to check facebook
and typing in “LOL”, here’s a picture from twitter any questions comments? Being
graffiti onto a wall he has a permit.
Reference:
Nirvi, S. (2011). Bullies
operate anonymously on popular social network: Educators say that Formspring
has become a battlefield in cyberbullying wars. Education Week. United
states, 30(27).
Hi Julia,
ReplyDeleteI thought that, in at least part, your blog offered something interesting. I found the paragraph about cyber-bullying the most relevant to what we read and discussed in class.
Cyber-bullying, like most things, can't be nailed down to one form. I think it's particularly interesting because anonymity isn't always a factor. Sometimes people are bullying people that they know well and in full awareness that they're identity is known.
Thinking about this in terms of the internet I guess there are two classes (probably many more actually) of cyber-bully. There is the class that are just bullies, whether they are on the internet or not. Then there is the class that feels a kind of cowardly bravery at being anonymous and abuses that anonymity.
I think all this confirms what our reading was talking about in that the internet is front-stage. We can edit whatever we say and it's for a mass audience (whether people realise these two things or not. Some DO NOT exercise their right to edit, or should I say there write two edti, and some seem to be oblivious to how many people have access to what they're writing, see Lamebook for evidence of this). We get to enjoy this front-stage area sitting behind a screen which makes it a very particular kind of front-stage, there is always a level of anonymity because you aren't directly faced with anyone.
I think that everyone can relate to, and even appreciate, the level of anonymity the internet affords, as well as the ability to modify and edit anything you put up (or the old 'pretending you were hacked', works like a charm).
A practical example of everything I've said is this whole blog-related assignment. My full name will be connected to this comment and yet I may never meet you outside this little cyber-world, otherwise the idea of commenting on people's blogs may slightly horrify me. I'll be the first to admit that when I found out we would have to comment on other people's blogs my first thought was that of being extremely uncomfortable, if not slightly panicked. Now I just find someone's blog who I think isn't in my class (sorry if you are and I just haven't met you), and I think 'here's a way of doing this that will hopefully never become confrontational'.
And just in case you were wondering: yes, I did see the wizard about getting some courage but he was fresh out because of that crazy lion.
So once again, I read a number of posts on this weeks readings The Cyberself: The Self-ing Project goes Online, Symbolic Interaction in the Digital Age and Backstage with the Knowledge Boys and Girls: Goffman and Distributed Agency in an Organic Online Community. I found that through the discussion in our group presentation - a large number have an opinion on the role of anonymity in cyberspace. I chose to comment on Julia's post as it provides an insight into an aspect of anonymity that we did not have time to discuss in the presentation - cyberbullying.
ReplyDeleteThe Ross reading introduces the concept of ''playful agressivity', kidding, profanity, elaborate griping and use of jargon' in an organic online learning community (OOLC), which can also be applied to social medias and cyberspace in general. Unfortunately, many interactions involving these cues may be simply misinterpreted or an intentional effort to cyberbully. Anonymity can often exaggerate these, with cyberbullies hiding behind anonymity to avoid the consequences of their actions. The concept of 'trolls' and 'trolling', often associated with cyberbullying as discussed in the presentation, also relies heavily on the anonymity available in cyberspace.
The Robinson reading argues that users in cyberspace rely heavily on gender stereotypes [aggressive male characters; passive and diffident female characters], which may also contribute to cyberbullying and 'trolling'.
On a final note - I agree with Julia's opinions on text language, although I cannot stand text language cues myself! [I even had to Google a couple of those acronyms - so much for a member of Gen Y!].
In Drew Ross’s reading, “Backstage with the Knowledge Boys and Girls” he discusses the pseudonymity that the internet offers. Being online allows people to take on the persona of anyone they choose. The ability to create online personas has created a new form of bullying for those who are too cowardly to attack others in a real life setting. Julia’s blog touches on the notion of cyberbullying and how people are using social networking sites as an outlet to do so. Although, some of her blog is based around an alternate language that has become all too popular in recent years, she makes a few good points regarding this issue and how the internet is being used more for evil then for good. I found an article, one of the many, discussing the prevalence of cyberbullying and how bullying is starting to occur more online then off (2008). If it wasn’t for the anonymity that the internet provided the people choosing to be ridicule others in this way may not necessarily do so. These online forums, like formspring, like Julia mentions are used merely for this purpose. The forum allows you to ask questions anonymously to others without any consequences. Julia’s entry comments on how youtube has begun to suggest that people use their real names instead of usernames but even then people could be using pseudonyms, like Goffman says you never know who people really are...The internet further confirms his beliefs to be true. The person cyberbullying you could easily be your best friend. Social networking anonymity allows one to expose their true backstage behaviour that should remain unseen in an extremely public front stage setting.
ReplyDeleteSmith, P. K., Mahdavi, J., Carvalho, M., Fisher, S., Russell, S. and Tippett, N. (2008), Cyberbullying: its nature and impact in secondary school pupils. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 49: 376–385. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-7610.2007.01846.x
I can honestly say that without meaning to say it (normally in mimic of my younger sister) ive never actually accidently said LOL or ROFL and i don’t actually know what a CEEBS is... (sad i know) But with that said, my 18 year old sister says LOL at the end of every sentence in the same way she types to her friends on facebook chat ending with “haha lol”
ReplyDeleteYou do make a strong point on how powerful language is and how influential it is. For example similar to people saying LOL or ROFL or whatever, i remember when i was in year 9 and everyone spent all their time texting and on MSN messenger, i used to spend all my time doing it to. I used to use “text language” when writing on MSN and by text, however i ended up in a habit that strong that i didn’t realise i was doing it until an mid year English exam where i failed the main essay because i wrote the entire essay in msn and text language.
My essay would have looked something like this: “2day i wanna tlk bout the bg issue of ppl who do bd stf instead of gd stf”. It was after realising that i had failed an essay that i realised my evil ways. :P
On that not i wanted to bring up an website i came across when looking at this topic. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/8468351.stm
This News post suggests that “text language uses word play and requires an awareness of how sounds relate to written English.” It then goes on to suggest that “pupils who regularly use text language - with all its mutations of phonetic spelling and abbreviations - also appear to be developing skills in the more formal use of English”. What is meant by this is that according to this study, students and children who use text language on a daily basis end up better in English studies than children who don’t. What did you guys think?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/8468351.stm