In the past few months, teens have started to ditch emojis and replace them with abbreviated text, in part because of the simplicity, and the lesser chances of misinterpretation.
Abbreviated text, such as LOL (laugh out loud), BRB (be right back), and OMG (oh my God), have been part of the internet and texting language for many years.
However, Gen Z-ers have started a wave of brand-new abbreviations, like ILYSM (I love you so much), FTW (for the win), and OFC (of course).
Lifelong Literacy clinical director Lyn Stone said that the sudden use of more abbreviated text is not only due to a desire to text faster, but also to show “more than just emotion” when texting.
“Emojis have been expanded slightly to also replace words, which is handy when you have character limits. But either way, they’re fairly one-dimensional and constrained,” Stone said. “Abbreviated words–and abbreviated phrases like ‘BTW’ and ‘IMHO’–have slightly more depth to them and can communicate abstract concepts beyond simple objects, actions, or feelings.”
We Are Social’s Chief Executive Officer Suzie Shaw said that the company, which provides full-service social marketing, creative, media and technical disciplines, has seen a huge rise in teenagers using acronyms, often influenced by TikTok.
“In contrast to emojis, abbreviations can be more efficient in expressing whole sentences and have very specific and widely understood meaning, which risk being misinterpreted.” Shaw said.“Acronyms are becoming more and more obscure, such as ‘IJBOL’ (I just burst out laughing) or ‘NGMI’ (not gonna make it).”
12-year-old Zac Nowytarger has said that most of his friends no longer use emojis, and have even said that it might be the right time for them to go.
“Emojis have gotten older and even though abbreviated words don’t show much emotion in a text, emojis aren’t really used so there’s no point in keeping them around,” he said. “It’s quicker to write abbreviated words rather than having to spend more time writing the full words, even if it’s a couple of letters shorter.”
Link to article: https://www.kidsnews.com.au/spelling-bee/teens-are-abandoning-emojis-for-abbreviated-text-and-wordplay/news-story/6f4ecc5926618246cde8336a8faf7194
Abbreviated text, such as LOL (laugh out loud), BRB (be right back), and OMG (oh my God), have been part of the internet and texting language for many years.
However, Gen Z-ers have started a wave of brand-new abbreviations, like ILYSM (I love you so much), FTW (for the win), and OFC (of course).
Lifelong Literacy clinical director Lyn Stone said that the sudden use of more abbreviated text is not only due to a desire to text faster, but also to show “more than just emotion” when texting.
“Emojis have been expanded slightly to also replace words, which is handy when you have character limits. But either way, they’re fairly one-dimensional and constrained,” Stone said. “Abbreviated words–and abbreviated phrases like ‘BTW’ and ‘IMHO’–have slightly more depth to them and can communicate abstract concepts beyond simple objects, actions, or feelings.”
We Are Social’s Chief Executive Officer Suzie Shaw said that the company, which provides full-service social marketing, creative, media and technical disciplines, has seen a huge rise in teenagers using acronyms, often influenced by TikTok.
“In contrast to emojis, abbreviations can be more efficient in expressing whole sentences and have very specific and widely understood meaning, which risk being misinterpreted.” Shaw said.“Acronyms are becoming more and more obscure, such as ‘IJBOL’ (I just burst out laughing) or ‘NGMI’ (not gonna make it).”
12-year-old Zac Nowytarger has said that most of his friends no longer use emojis, and have even said that it might be the right time for them to go.
“Emojis have gotten older and even though abbreviated words don’t show much emotion in a text, emojis aren’t really used so there’s no point in keeping them around,” he said. “It’s quicker to write abbreviated words rather than having to spend more time writing the full words, even if it’s a couple of letters shorter.”
Link to article: https://www.kidsnews.com.au/spelling-bee/teens-are-abandoning-emojis-for-abbreviated-text-and-wordplay/news-story/6f4ecc5926618246cde8336a8faf7194