The Nuances of Digital Speech
It’s safe to say that humans have done a lot of cool stuff in the times we’ve been around. From the wheel to electricity to the Internet, people have created inventions that have revolutionized our daily lives. But one invention – an invention we can’t contribute to a single person, or even a group of people – is often unnoticed. Human speech, the ability to transmit ideas from one person to another using words and other cues, is just about the most revolutionary invention (if you can even call it that) of them all.
It’s no wonder that a system such as this that has existed for thousands of years has so many hidden complexities to it. We spend much of our formative years acting like sponges, soaking in the nuances of speech from our family. This conditioning has made speech something we take for granted.
But there is so much more to speech than just the words that are said. Our tone of voice, gestures, facial expressions, and timing are just a few of the factors that aren’t strictly words that can have a notable impact on dialogue. For instance, it’s easy to notice who is the person currently speaking in a conversation based solely on who is moving their arms around most. Even simple phrases, such as “good luck with that”, can vary drastically depending on tone of voice. This phrase could either be a genuine wish that someone succeeds, or a sarcastic and doubtful remark.
These complexities that seem so natural to us become much more obvious when learning a second language, as it can be hard to pick up on them when you become older. But perhaps a much more interesting phenomenon is how these nuances have been translated to the digital age. Stripped of any of these subtleties that can change the complete meaning of the words we say, digital communications have had to adapt to meet the same flexibility that spoken speech affords us.
One instance that any Gen-Z or Millennial is quick to notice is the use of periods in texting. Following with the same example as before, putting a period at the end of “good luck with that” will instantly convey a negative tone to those who spent many of their formative years with digital technology. To someone who never grew up with the Internet, this choice of punctuation may just seem like proper grammar. However, those that are used to these digital nuances will assume malice, even when the intentions of their older relatives or managers were nothing but genuine.
A different, but still related, example to these slight punctuation changes are phone calls. Often, younger generations interpret a phone call as something that should only be used in times of importance, such as telling someone news that they just have to know right now or checking up on someone who is late to a gathering. As phone calls are meant to be a way to get someone’s attention immediately, it can often be judged as inconsiderate of another’s time to do this when the message could simply be a text.
Respecting people’s time isn’t a new concept – many office workers complain when a time-consuming meeting could have merely been an email. Just as the period from before, this is a translation of a phenomenon in the physical world to the digital one.
But not everyone is caught up with these translations – and that’s okay. Most reasonable people will extend empathy to someone learning English as their second language when they don’t quite know all the distinctions we’re used to. Similarly, it’s important for those who do notice these nuances to consider the backgrounds of the people we speak to over the Internet and be flexible with the standards we hold them to.
For further reading on this topic, I highly recommend Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language by Gretchen McCulloch. It’s a great deep-dive into numerous examples of how the English language has adapted to the digital age. You can pick it up here on Amazon.