Text-speak which was used due to the limited space has now evolved into a terrible disease of a trend that shows no signs of slowing down, it spreads like wild fire through fiber-optic cables at the speed of light like no other virus we have ever seen.
Text-speak has been around for quite some time, but back then they had an excuse to use it by having limited character inputs, since then mobile phones got more advanced and service providers got their act together, slowly lifting the limit on characters. Now mobile phones are easily capable of sending 1000 character text messages in multiple pieces with ease.
The already strong trend of needless abbreviations only got worse once the internet and personal computer became more widely available to the average person. Just as abbreviations spread, so did every corruption of abbreviation, bad spelling and terrible grammar which was also surprisingly endorsed by the hip hop community which only made things worse.
What is shocking though is that the majority of its users are not ignorant but it is rather a chosen behavior they deem socially acceptable.
What is even more worrying is that these trends are not confined within the walls of the internet but are slowly being introduced to everyday life by its users, and as the internet continues to become more accessible to the younger generation, it is not something you would want them to pick at such a young age.
Language is a beautiful thing and it needs to be preserved if not by the teenagers who use language so poorly, by the adults who are tasked to shape them.
The next time you think of using an abbreviation or ‘leetspeak’, whether you use it for fun or use it to mask your age, think again, because whichever language you may use, it has the potential of being lost if none of its speakers preserve it.
If you do not have a strong command of the language take time to learn it. The problem is more pressing than it seems, all you have to do it take a look at the Facebook posts on your wall.
As the internet and social networking sites flourish and continue to spread its roots deep within the walls of our society with an ever-increasing growth rate, reaching more people with every passing day than it ever has, this just might be the single biggest obstacles language has ever had to face.
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