RSSAdjusting to Internet Communication
Jan 06
It’s interesting watching people — both new and old — find their voices when communicating via the internet. I don’t necessarily mean blogs or news stories. I mean through Facebook and twitter and message boards.
When people first start using these communication tools (or even e-mail and IMs) they tend to write as stiff as possible. A conversational tone is lost, replaced by very focused and direct communication. Many times personality itself is even suppressed. Now of course this isn’t true of everyone, as some do adapt immediately.
What I find interesting though is how similar it is to watching people actually learn to talk. You start with strict structure and phrasing and then overtime give in to slang and memes and acronyms. You relax as you absorb the techniques of those around you, take what you want, filter out what you don’t and combine with your own personality.
People speak with their own cadence in real life and it’s something they’ve developed over time. Christopher Walken didn’t talk like Christopher Walken at birth. He became Christopher Walken.
And now thanks to the somewhat voyeuristic nature of the internet, we can all watch each other find our own verbal voices in print form.
It’s kind of cool.