An Unstoppable Trend

Yu Huang

A 25-year-old Chinese student in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province

Cyberspeak has been infiltrating into daily communication since the era of computers, and the wide use of mobile phones has accelerated that trend. As more and more time is spent in front of digital screens, the boundary between the virtual and real life is blurred and it becomes difficult to switch between two styles of languages. As a result, cyberspeak is currently widely used in daily life.

Like it or not, cyberspeak has become an important source of new language elements. In China, we have a classic magazine called Yaowen Jiaozi, which has served as a defender of the Chinese language by correcting misuse of the language by the media, writers and celebrities. Each year, it releases a list of 10 most popular Chinese words. Most of these words are in some way cyberspeak.

I think one reason why cyberspeak is popular is that it allows us to communicate in a fast and more straightforward way, which is in line with the fast-paced modern life. In China, we can describe the hardworking life of people with 996, which means working six days a week from 9 a.m. till 9 p.m. With 666, which means a great job, we can extend our appreciation of other people's achievement.

Cyberspeak is even changing the original meanings of Chinese characters. The character囧, which originally means light, has become popular with the new meanings of depression, sadness and awkwardness for its resemblance to a long face. You may say it is a contamination of the traditional Chinese language, but the character might have otherwise been forgotten as many other desolate Chinese characters. In this sense, cyberspeak is bringing vitality to the traditional language.

Overdependence on cyberspeak, however, makes one appear superficial and tacky. That's why today we admire so much people who can master more elegant expressions. If you want to say something different when making a comment or express a feeling, I think the solution might be spending less time with the phone, and more time with books.

A Subtle Influencer

Taiwo Blessing Ogunseyi

A 35-year-old Nigerian lecturer

The advent of the Internet and its very rapid development has brought into existence new innovative ways for us to live our lives. The swift acceptance and integration of social media platforms into our daily life has also ushered in a lot of changes in daily communication, making communication more efficient, convenient and effective, especially when it comes to chatting and texting. However, as with any other cultural artifact, online communication on social media platforms has distinguished itself from the traditional print and oral communication culture through the use of cyberspeak.

Cyberspeak is the terminology relating to or used in online social media communications. In other words, it is the language used on the Internet, which is sometimes referred to as "cyber slang." To a very large extent, I think cyberspeak started as a result of the limited number of characters allowed when chatting or texting on most social media platforms. Hence, people resorted to creative ways of maximizing the limited typing space by using shorter words, abbreviations, emojis, symbols, or alternative words to capture their thoughts and pass their message across.

Cyberspeak is handy, humorous, and interesting, and it possesses qualities that attract attention, particularly that of humor. Consequently, people's communicative behavior, language and psychology have all been affected by its subtle influence. This is because cyberspeak has crawled into our daily communications causing serious harm to formal writing and communication. It has also crept into academic writings in schools, affecting the writing skills of most students.

While cyberspeak may have its humor and advantages due to its popularity on social media platforms, I firmly believe that it should not be used in non-social media environments, especially in academic and other formal writings. It is important for us to note the difference between social communication and formal communication. This distinction will help to recognize the level of formality expected for the different mediums of communication.