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Tasks: Analysing the Language You Use on Social Media
Most social media require that the users express themselves in short, simple texts. Emoticons help keep communication brief. It is also possible to use video or images instead of text. How does this affect your language?
Many believe that teenagers have a secret language that they use to communicate with each other on social media. Sometimes newspapers print articles warning parents about what they should be looking out for. But is it true that teenagers have a secret language on social media?
- Go to the social media site you most commonly use. Are there any messages there that you have trouble understanding? Are there any messages that an adult who is not used to social media would have difficulty understanding? Explain why/why not.
- Write a short message to a friend where you make plans for the afternoon. Imagine that you will send it on the social media platform you most commonly use to send messages to friends.
- Next imagine that the message will be read by either a teacher or another adult. Is there anything in the text that they would have problems understanding? If so make a note of those things.
- Write a message / social media post that you think will be difficult to understand for a person who is not used to social media. Use commonly used abbreviations or emoticons, for example.
- Consider if you read this message on social media; would you immediately understand it?
- Get a teacher or another adult to read the message. Did they understand it? Which parts, if any, did they have trouble with?
- Do teenagers use a secret language on social media?
- In what ways does social media affect the way you write?
Choose either task 1 or task 2.
- Write a short text where you consider what you have found out from the work you have done on this topic: does social media change the way you express yourself?
- Write a short text with advice on how to understand social media language.