“The Rapid Growth of Digital Communication and Social Media’s Influence on Language”

Abstract

The expansion of social media has transformed how we communicate, creating a new language sometimes, or ever an expression of itself. We identify three such shifts that make up digital work: shifts towards informal language, creative language, and flexible language, to which we argue that digital platforms are oriented. Drawing on surveys and interviews with different age groups, the study provides evidence of digital trends for informal language, multimodal forms, and slang, most commonly used by younger users but extending to digital and offline communication. The results illustrate tension in ways casual online language lived on vs formal settings in which it had to be used, and social media further complicates the issue of language use across various kinds of social settings. In the end the research highlights the need for flexible literate communication skills to negotiate these changing linguistic environments successfully.