The Relationship Between Message Meaning Changes and Electronic Communication

Language has always had an impact on people's attitudes and internal wellbeing while we are constantly creating and remaking vocabulary (Giridharadas, 2010). The continued and changing human needs result in the reduction of one term and the emergence of another. Electronic networks also created a forum with a streamlined interface that provides advantages such as quick access to data, a space for improved networking and social developments, global cultural sharing, and advancements in security and privacy. Electronic networking strategies associated with derogatory communities such as abbreviated languages or slang languages include social networks such as Facebook, emails, and instant messages. Emailing and social media hinders the use of face-to-face communications. Social media leads to redefined meanings of words. The purpose of this paper is to determine if there is any relationship between the changing meanings attributed to different words in the society that are consequently affecting different culture across the world and the use of electronic communications. This paper will use analyze the article written by Kahn (2011), an academic paper that attempts to determine the difference that the word friend has hand through different time frames to the contemporary world. Wellner (2005), also argue that communication has become ineffective due to the translation a message receives when conveyed through the electronic channels. Therefore, electronic communications have a significant impact on the meanings given to words over different time frames and eventually affect the cultures of people.
Effects of Electronic Communications on the Meaning of Words and Cultures of People
Kahn (2011), has gone into deep details trying to analyze the meaning people from different centuries attach to the word ‘ friend.' According to this author, how often we use the word influence the meaning we give the name. The author makes analysis on the significance people in the mid-1990s, early 2000s, and the current world use when considering a friends. In the mid-1990s, there were limited instance of online interactions, and hence people viewed friends as those who you have face to face conversations with, interact with on a regular basis and would speak to as regular as possible even if it was through the phone. The people who lived before the era of phones also had a different meaning of friends as for them you would have to physically interact regularly or communicate through platforms such as the use of letters. The interaction between friends during these eras influenced the meaning that people living in these periods gave the word. In this generation, the use of online communication platforms such as Facebook has given the word friend a different meaning. Use of Facebook has introduced friendship in the virtual world. Individuals continuously interact with ‘friends’ whom they have never met or and have no idea about within Facebook. The extensive use of Facebook has resulted in the possibility of an unlimited number of virtual friends and reduced number of real friends who we interact with on face to face basis (Kahn, 2011). The use of social media has redefined the meaning to allow for existence in friendship even with disconnection in geographical locations and emotional connections. Therefore, due to the use of Facebook, the idea of friendship has seized to mean people we would give or do anything for only to mean people we are merely acquainted with, either in the real or the virtual world.
According to Wellner (2005), the use of emails as a form of communication has both positive and negative impacts. Most companies use emails for communications with the aim of informing a large number of people at once. Use of emails comes necessary when the possibility of face to face communications is not possible. However, emails can have negative attributes as more often than not misunderstanding and conflicts arise from misinterpretation or poorly written emails. Use of emails leads to email overloads or damages as well as embarrassments that associate with emails that go to the wrong people. Moreover, legal issues arise from the content of the emails. Other negative tributes of emails are the reduced possibility of interpersonal communications between people. The authors have provided a case scenario of Roberts Golden Consulting in San Francisco where the managers have acknowledged the adverse effects associated with the use of emails. The management hence introduced a custom that Fridays the workers in the company would not use emails but rather engage in face to face communication or phone calls (Wellner, 2005). The company seems to be aware of the fact that emails arrive at their recipients without nonverbal cues such as gestures, facial expressions, tonal variations and eye contacts. Body language and non-verbal cues provide a significant percentage of meaning derived from a conversation. Therefore, email is not useful for delivering personal, sensitive and complicated information.
Giridharadas’s thesis is valid according to the demonstration provided by the articles written by Wellner and Kahn. Electronic communications affect the quality of message by changing the meaning of words as well as the first emotion and tone of a message by encouraging dehumanization and depersonalization. Due to the anonymity provided by the internet, users can behave in ways that they normally would not in case it was in a face to face conversation. People hide behind the faceless avatars in the screen and hence can become hostile to others. Internet platforms also easily influence the meaning that people give to certain words or activities. For instance, when a particular word is modified and continuously used to imply to the new meaning, users easily get influenced to associate the word to the new hence changing people’s behaviors and ways of thinking. Finally, similar to Giridharadas’s argument, electronic communication has led to the development of the virtual world that has eventually affected the importance that was previously given to face to face conversations. Credibility associated to face to face interactions has hence reduced ultimately reducing the weight and trustworthiness of any form of communication.
Conclusion
In conclusion, The varied meanings that individuals give words have had the power of making and remaking human behavior as words continuously fall and rise regarding their importance in the society. The use of electronic communication techniques affects trends in the community as people influence each other. Electronic communications provide an avenue that people use to communicate their thought to a wider audience while at the same time hide while avoiding face to face conversations. Electronic communications have led to increased incidences of misunderstanding and conflict as the channels eliminates primary components of any information. In addition, people change credibility of words as well as behaviors to suit their growing needs and name thus changing the intrinsic worth of communication channels currently in use.
References
Giridharadas, A. (2010). America and the Fun Generation. The New York Times. Retrieved on 12th Feb 2017 from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/30/us/30iht-currents.html?module=ArrowsNav&contentCollection=U.S.&action=keypress®ion=FixedLeft&pgtype=article
Kahn, J. P. (2011). What does ‘friend’ mean now? Boston.com. Retrieved on 12th Feb 2017 from http://archive.boston.com/lifestyle/articles/2011/05/05/what_does_friend_mean_now/
Wellner, A. S. (2005). Lost in Translation. Inc.com. Retrieved on 12th Feb 2017 from http://www.inc.com/magazine/20050901/managing.html