"Always On" Book Review (COM 655)
COMM 655 - January 26, 2018 - Book Review
Always On: Language in an Online and Mobile World by Naomi S. Baron - Book Review
In the digital age, it’s almost unheard of to go a day without non-digital or mobile communication. As technology has evolved, so has the way we communicate in this new digital age, especially when it comes to language. Always On: Language in an Online and Mobile World by Naomi S. Baron addresses just that, focusing on not only the platforms we use to stay connected but the evolution of digital language. “With more than one-third of the world’s population using mobile phones, it’s hardly surprising that researchers of all sorts… have been studying the ways in which young and old, rich and poor, have been using these devices (Baron, p. 120).” Baron walks through platforms like Facebook and AIM to discuss how we have changed as a culture in the way we communicate, using empirical and observational data to illustrate the importance and impact language has in “an online and mobile world.”
Summary
Baron’s Always On poses an interesting point, challenging us to look past the current expectations of digital/mobile language and question it’s impacts to us personally. “It turns out that electronically-based language is altering linguistic norms and expectations, then it seems self-evidently important to understand the nature of those changes and their potential impact on our linguistic and social lives (Baron, xi).” The book walks us through three basic areas of focus in this regard: a basic introduction; focused research; and the impact of the observations. As with digital media in general, Baron applies her research to the reading of the book by the audience, explaining that “Writing for all of these audiences at once can be a challenge. Some of the topics we deal with lend themselves to close reading while the tone of others is more conversational (p. 10).” The book’s initial chapters focus on introducing us to why the understanding of digital language is so important and introducing us to the concept of computer mediated communication (CMC). These initial chapters (preface to chapter two), provide a ground level understanding of the change in “netspeak (p. 11).” She goes on to provide empirical data (chapters three through seven) through her field-related research to dive into existing platforms of communication, like social media and mobile devices, through larger themes or focuses like gender and opinion content. Baron then wraps the research into the global conversation surrounding digital communications in the final chapters (eight though ten), discussing her observations in the context in the wider impact to areas like speech and writing. Baron concludes, posing a larger question surrounding the impact of this new digital language and our tendency to be “always on.”
Impacts:
We as society have operated from an understanding of the basic rules and principles of language for centuries. For example, until the digital age, acronyms, like “LOL,” were not used in conversation as a legitimate way to communicate emotion. Our language was governed on agreed upon societal and cultural speech and writing. Baron explains this new shift explaining that the newest generations saturated in digital culture are growing up without “linguistic consistency (p. 169).” As our technology shifts, so does the consistency of language, and ultimately understanding.
One example Baron focuses on is the impact of the internet language on the rules surrounding writing. Though Baron approaches the impacts from a linguistic perspective, she explains the internet’s tendencies to forgo the standards we are accustomed to and be considered informal. This includes her example of her student’s use of “newspaper, news-paper, or news paper.” Baron explains that used casually, “all three versions sound the same – returning to us the fact that writing is increasingly representing informal speech rather than standing as a distinct linguistic form of representation (p. 178).” Simply, we have adapted to this informal structure of designing our writing so that it more closely matches the way we speak on the internet: conversationally. Baron goes on to note that informal tendency has also infiltrated our way of speaking to each other, using abbreviations or popular shortened phrases in place of a standard way of communicating. “New entries are sometimes carryovers from written language, especially written acronyms (p. 179).” Using LOL rather than actually laughing in response to a comment was not a standard part of conversations until the internet age.
Another example of linguistic inconsistency would be the control of information, or as Baron refers to it as “volume control.” She explains that volume control is less about the sound volume, but more about access, avoidance, and manipulation (Baron, p. 33). In restricting our technology or CMC, we limit our access to the content there is to engage with, or we can avoid specific messaging from specific people. Manipulating the communication is one of the more interesting measures to control the volume of content as it involves the other communicator, as Baron uses placing a boss on speaker phone (p. 33). As our technology has grown to encompass hundreds (if not more) of platforms and stretches globally, understanding the evolution of the “rules” of our new digital language is imperative to look for these impacts.
Takeaways:
In understanding how our language is evolving in this new age, Baron makes it a point to discuss the wider conversation of why the impact to our language is a broader conversation about digital culture. For communicators, understanding the responsibility of CMC and facilitating engagement online starts with the way we use language. Language not only shapes our relationship to our audience, but the way our audience consumes and disseminates the content. The benefit of Always On illuminates the reminder that this language is the new standard in communication in a new digital age. Without understanding the language and how it evolves, we cannot effectively communicate, whether in person or online. “Modern language technologies are invaluable aids to human productivity, social connectedness, safety, and relaxation. However, we may need to learn to use them more responsibly (Baron, p. 229).” It’s the responsibility of communicators to set the pace and standards of this new language. Whether that be reminding users be more conscious of the content they are consuming or challenging them to engage at a deeper level rather than just “lol.” As Baron reminds us, “We can decide for ourselves whether to remain ‘always on’ (p. 236).”
Critique
The importance of this book is reinforced with the idea that our tendency to overshare should not be justifying our inability to properly engage. However, at the time the book was published and the research completed we were just seeing the initial impacts of a CMC saturated generation in the late 2000’s. We were also just learning about some of the platforms were capable of, especially Facebook. This book focuses on IM and Facebook, however disregards other platforms at the time that were predominate in the culture at the time, like MySpace, Tumblr, and Reddit. Although these platforms were falling behind Facebook’s tenacious fight for dominance, a majority of the language used on Facebook, was first used in the comments section of Myspace or on Tumblr re-blogs. Though the book focuses on (at the time) collegiate millennials, including older generations of users or more in depth look at a wide range of social networking platforms would have provider a deeper understanding of the evolution of internet language. Observing the impact of language in relationships between the generations would have also provided valuable insight to the future of CMC and inter-generational communication strategies.
Conclusion
Thirty years ago, our idea of communication was completely different than it is now. We lived in a society where the use of technology was an option, not an obligation. CMC is a standard of our culture now, so understanding how that constant communication impacts the way we interact with those around us (both digitally and physically) is imperative. “An article written on IM published in 1998 now reads like quaint history. Statistics collected six months ago are likely out of date (Baron, p. ix).” As Baron reminds us, we have to be conscious how the speed of change in technology and language influences our ability to connect. These changes directly impact how we understand and disseminate information. Understanding the impacts of our “always on” culture as it relates to our CMC language is ongoing in this new online and mobile world as the responsibility relies on the users to be conscious of how we choose to communicate.
References
Baron, N. S. (2010). Always on: Language in an online and mobile world. Oxford: Oxford University Press.