Competency and Communication

In class last week, we discussed the "use" and "misuse" of language, and emphasized the importance of these examples. In the 21st Century, it is extremely important that teenagers, even parents, have the satisfaction of that one "like" that changes their Instagram post from showing who liked it, to showing a number. The use and misuse of language can be taken in good and bad ways, but now a days, most forms of language are bound to offend someone. We live in a world in which we go to bed checking our Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, etc--and wake up doing the exact same. It has become this social stigma that people are unaware of because it is so natural--and it will only get worse from here. Our generation; and the generation above us, give children iPad's and iPhone's to play on and color on; but this shows nothing about our competence.

Humans are the measures of most things technological, and it won't stop until we stop. We hold this power that we dangle over each other's heads by saying things like, "like for like", or "comment for comment". We are the only ones who have the authority to change such a social construct--because we constructed this social construct on our own. I know for a fact that most people my age were not born into a technological family, so the only explanation for stressing out about how we don't have many retweets is solely in our generations hands. The impact that these measures have affects us greatly in the sense of rhetoric. That may seem extremely far off the deep end on my part, but I believe that rhetoric plays a huge role in the media aspect of communication. We are persuaded by our peers that these things are salient--we make these likes and retweets apart of our personal values. Some people take social media so seriously. that there is even an app to buy more followers. Essentially, we are paying for the look higher numbers have on a profile; so when your long lost BFF finds your "insta", she will be so jealous about how far you've come!...followers wise. On top of the many issues of implementing technology towards a younger age group, we constantly complain about how much people are on their phones, ipad's or apple watches--yet we are the measures! These measurements change communication and culture because we lack basic social skills due to the advancement in technology, so it makes it hard for us to communicate properly. Whether it be with friends, family, or employers, we lose sight of what is important--basic competency and spending time with those who matter the most. That sounds extremely corny, but it is very true. Culture is formed on the manifestations of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively. When we are collectively consumed in technology, our lack of communication and cultural growth tends to affect us negatively.