Impact of Technology on Society Globally
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Impact of Technology on Society
Technology is widespread globally, and its presence can be seen almost everywhere in the world. Every person can feel the presence of technology wherever they are and enjoy or observe its use throughout their daily lives and activities. Technology therefore can be said to have impacts on the lives of people and their lifestyles in different ways even to their speech and language. In English language, there are words that have recently been recognized and added to the language as per the University Oxford Press on its annual list of newly recognized words in English language (Cummins and Haag, 2010).
The advancement of technology have propelled the introduction of new words and names to carter for the processes, developments and the devices that come with it. Since 2005, tens of words have been added to the dictionary and the list of recognized words in English language. Words such as podcast, harsh tag, pregaming, cloudware, tweet, sexting, webisode among other hundreds are so far added up as English words with granted recognition. Such words recently introduced that were originally nonexistent fall mostly in the three categories of the environment, politics and environment (Cummins and Haag, 2010). It can almost be expected that with the rapid trends in technology, more words will be introduced and accepted for use as English words because of technological change.
Since the year 2010, a bunch of words has been added to the dictionary as in last periods. Out of the words added up to a quarter of them fall under technology category while some fall on fashion, politics among others. The developers of dictionary are striving to size it appropriately and increase its affordability. With the continued advancements and wider cross border interactions, which results to universally acceptable terms, there are new more words expected to enter the dictionary as nominated by different groups (Brysbaert, Kuperman and Stadthagen 2012).
Impact of the Environment on Language
In the recent decades, there has been a lot of borrowing of words, cross culturally and across languages (Deuchar & Stammers, 2012). Every time, new words from different languages and cultures are used. There are rapid changes in the physical environment as much as there are technology advancements, and even at times, more. With the changes in focus and continued activism, new words and phrases build up, and are used globally earning universal acceptance (Willow, 2012). Such words may be a combination of words, suffixes and prefixes or just phrases to express some meaning. Words such as eco-friendly and eco-town were never in existence, but are currently used and accepted as English words.
Issues of environment have been of concern to everyone, and there have been summits, regionally and globally, from youths, experts and world leaders to solve the puzzle of rapid environmental change. Technology changes have been better, even though not every technology any time is appropriate (Cummins and Haag, 2010). As opposed to the technology change, environmental change has never been for the better as there is rise in global warming while some indigenous animals are facing extinction (Longhofer, and Schofer, 2010). Some environmental aspects or issues do not exist everywhere around the globe, and there must be common terms and words to address them and that are understandable by everyone (Deuchar & Stammers, 2012).
All the words whether borrowed, developed or code-switched are nominated and if they gain acceptance are admitted to the list of new English words, which later are published on the dictionary during the regular updates. For every word to gain such recognition, frequency of use and the rate of acceptance are considered. You will realize that some borrowed words have part of them from the donor language preceded by the recipient language. In any case, there must always be linguistic integration of the new words formed.
Technology Related Words
With the development of technology, there are different words that come up through interaction and use. Within our environments and social life, there are different technologies used for different purposes and reasons (Cummins and Haag, 2010). Some people tend to use technology to get money back, in trading, promotion or communication. Most business people will tend to employ the use of technology to improve their performances and increase benefits. Many developers of technology do so with the intention of positively affecting social lives (Akhlagh, Salimi & Taleghani, 2013). For instance, the social media and the quick chats (instachat) are promoted to encourage instant networking, among business partners, professionals and client-provider scenario.
However, different technologies are used for different purposes. Another word that can express this is “chattitude” where one can be said to express attitude through texts (chat), or the act of someone committing too much of time to chat than to pay attention to the environment (Yaghi, 2012). The common problem is that the developers of such technologies do not take time to train people, or even if they do, the methods do not attract the interest of the users in a way that they would understand. Most people learn through trial and error, and a persons’ creativeness may much influence the appropriate use of technology.
To add on the technology related words, there is “webholic” a word that is used by an internet company in Australia as their name, but on the social scene used to refer to somebody who is so much attracted to internet. People whose work revolve around computers however do not qualify for the tag, but those who get to internet for fun and spend a lot of their time for that on a regular basis may be referred to as ‘webholics’. According to Arora, Dilawari and Logani, (2012), technology affects child development. For instance, a person who all his life has grown up knowing that the internet is used for entertainment purposes, will spend much of the time on the internet for fun and entertainment purposes other than for personal development.
Another word commonly used globally is ‘selfie’. With people tapping at their smartphones to capture images of themselves and sending them on social media, this can be referred to as ‘double tap’. The selfie itself is a picture a person takes of self on the first tap, then the second tap occurs when one decides to post that ‘selfie’ on social media. People and teens commonly on social media keep coming up with new words that they use among themselves while interacting (Arora, Dilawari and Logani, 2012). Technology currently has a higher impact on teens’ life more than the parents and peers, as almost all of them can access techno devices.
The current technological advancements encourage self-service and self-learning for the users of the developments. This in turn increases technology acceptance among its consumers, with little rebellion on others. The developers always try as much as possible not to give chance to competing products that consumers may prefer as alternatives. The penetration of technology, self-efficacy of consumers and acceptance, make it to change the social life and behavior of people. Such changes occur on language, perception and communication. You will always hear words that are new, or find them in texts and chats and try to relate and understand their meaning. By the end of the day, their use are accepted and spread over to other people.
Slangs and abbreviations though not official language, may be used on official occasions or even accepted as part of the official language depending on frequency of use and preference. Some of the new terms are on social media and online comment threads and borrowed by people, who in turn use them. These words may comprise of primarily acronyms, distinctive written features, abbreviations and respellings. Such internet expression, if common even in instant or text messaging, should be used as official language as appropriate, to expand cross-cultural communication with ease.
Registering of new words and recognizing them as part the official language promote integration and quick understanding among people interacting. Those who go across border may also find it a little easier to interact and communicate, capturing parts of concepts based on borrowed words and the technology-generated words accepted (Lam, 2009). On the other hand, the creativity of those people who come with these new words is appropriately appreciated through their acceptance. As long as such words meet the threshold, they get to be nominated and admitted to the international list of recognized words. Acceptance of such words for use also promotes self-expression, as its users will find a common ground of communicating (Diniz, & Pimentel, 2014).
Conclusion
Technology advancements have penetrated the environment and the social life of people across the globe. With continued improvements, the technology is becoming cheaper and affordable to almost everyone. Its impact can be seen is personal life, economic and political practices among others. There are new terminologies and words that come up because of exchanges and simultaneous affiliations across boundaries aided by the technology. The multiple linguistic communities are able to come up with common phrases and words from the common language or borrowed from other languages and cultures. Equally, the technology contributes to negativities as much as positivity as not everyone is appropriately engaging technology. As much as we may appreciate the new language development, the original language culture is corrupted by the advancements. Internet on the other hand can be credited for allowing interpersonal relations and communication, at the same time influencing habits and interaction.