Communication seems to be getting smaller and more frequent.
It’s gone from snail mail letters, handwritten four pages long detailing three weeks of life, probably because that’s how long it’ll take to be recieved. Then it shrunk to email.
Emails, whilst occasionally lengthy did seem to push the boundaries of a page. Since these were more speedy in their delivery not so much needed to be said per email.
Then phone calls, or perhaps this should come on either side of emails. One day in the past these were longer and more luxurious forms of communication, with the revelation of the new email which quietly popped up to be read at your convenience – calls became somewhat intrusive. And nowadays seem to be reserves for emergencies or catching up with Nana who hasn’t yet got past the snail mail stage.
Then texts arrived and we started experiencing character limits – but none the less it became the preferred method of communication – informal, unobtrusive, convenient and instant. We began saying less as this method of communication would cost extra if you passed the character limit.
What next? Abbreviations LOL BRB WTF. We started shortening things to fit more into these text limits, then these abbreviations eventually became spoken words in their own right.
Tweets and Status Updates took us a step further. Small more frequent updates packed with abbreviations, containing little information.
Soon (and it’s already started) we will start abbreviating entire sentences. Have you had lunch? becomes HYHL? which is fine when communicating electronically but we don’t realise that orally our language is reverting to a series of mumbled cave man grunts. We’re heading right back to where we started!
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