You Spelt It Wrong
Without a doubt, the advent of the GUI interface, widely popularized by Apple, changed the way that computers and smartphones are used and has given rise to an entire industry of app developers intent on making services and communications more accessible to all users regardless of levels of literacy.
It’s no coincidence that I-Pads became the pacifier of choice for people babysitting small children. The manipulation of colorful objects on the screen captivates young minds and they can be left alone for hours amusing themselves. The ease of communicating and navigating by pointing and moving fingers is basic and obviates the need to have any language skills. Playing games on the small screen became a standard skill acquired by all kids.
Building upon that enormous base as children move into adulthood, phone and app makers have extended that formative phase into products that retain their customer base. Nowadays, people can communicate on their devices by swiping, entering emojis and clicking on icons in lieu of actually forming a written thought. It’s as if the evolution of language skills are regressing backwards.
When people first began to communicate visually, it was undoubtedly with simple pictograms and symbols crudely representing ideas. Obviously, this left some room for ambiguity since many people don’t draw well. Even if you drew a hand, did that mean stop? give me more? the number five? or look at my new glove? Eventually, the Chinese assembled pictograms into a cohesive language but there was still plenty of room for ambiguity since their pictograms represented ideas more than precise definitions.
Eventually, someone invented the alphabet and voila, much more precise communication was possible. How-to manuals were much easier to follow as were medical procedures. Somewhere along the way, language began to fray at the edges as variations and distortions of language came into acceptance as pop culture personalities bastardized their accepted constructs. It may be only a matter of time before spoken language reverts back to a series of clicks, pops and grunts.
The written language is already reverting back to infantile levels with the substitution of amusing and cute emojis for clever, witty dialogue. The fascination with symbols, emojis, games and icons may be extending adolescence and the affinity for cuteness for an entire generation. People have never been so hooked on virtual life as they have recently with video apps and games. Think of the Pokemon go phenomenon sweeping the world now. It’s only a matter of time before Hello Kitty becomes a mascot for a college football team. While convenient for device users, there’s another side to this convenience of communication, a darker side; social engineering.
Phone apps are ironically contributing to the demise of literacy in the modern world. Nuanced conversations now revolve around the interpretations of the expressions on an emoji sent or received rather than the relative certainty of a written phrase. Soon it will be acceptable for academic theses to be submitted using only emojis and pictograms leading to actual academic towers of babble. White face and horizontally striped shirts will be all the rage as mimes become the high priests of communication. We’re moving towards a dark period of human evolution when accepted communication begins to resemble ransom notes from a 3 year old.
I sign off with this message:
pardon the spelling.