‘The mechanism of the human brain is not excessively machine-inclined and gadget-friendly. So, it's advisable to use modern-day gadgets sparingly and wisely, to stay human with humane qualities.’
-- Editorial in Lancet, December 2019
Researchers in the field of neuro-linguistics are pretty concerned that the use of WhatsApp, Instagram and other such social media platforms is causing neuro-lingual deficiency (NLD) among their users. "When a language becomes screen-oriented, the scope of its linguistic expansion gets stymied," opined the world's greatest living linguist Sir David Crystal of England. Today, our language has indeed become screen-oriented and gadget-aided. This is thwarting the brain's natural inclination to learn and master a language. Let's have a peek into the human brain's natural cognitive proclivities (NCPs) that help learn a language and get restricted by the overuse of screen-orientation/use.
It has been found that the human brain's capacity to learn a language depends upon the expansion of brain cells. But all gadgets seriously restrict that and limit the potential to improve one's linguistic skills. The messaging on WhatsApp and all other social platforms forces us to use acronyms and abbreviations and we often end up constructing incomplete syntax. This conversational frivolity has crept into our linguistic consciousness and that's why thanks has become ‘thanx’ and thank you very much has stooped to ‘tysm’.
Plethora of gadgets
It's interesting to observe that despite technological advancement, all languages, post-2000, have suffered due to the proliferation of gadgets. That's why the NY Times and The Guardian encourage their columnists that unless it's exigent, they'd better first write a draft in long hand and then type it out on the computers and send across. The brain, finger and pen coordination (BFP) help a writer sum up his or her thoughts in a cogent and compact manner. This coordination is lacking when you WhatsApp or have recourse to a similar medium.
Thousands of years of rational cognition of the human brain resulted in pausal methodology while thinking and writing something using certain words, expressions and terms. With the use of messaging platforms, that pausal methodology of human brain is being challenged. So, we're no longer using varied terms and the general syntax of all users is woefully similar. Gone are the broad(er) linguistic horizons.
In 2017, The Spectator of London conducted a survey, more or less limited to its staff, reporters, correspondents and columnists. The latter were told they could use gadgets only to file stories and reports; otherwise, they would have to use pen and paper for a month, to assess their linguistic depth.
Pen on paper
Surprisingly, all those who wrote their columns and stories resorting to the conventional pen and paper, conceded that they could write in a more profound manner and the brain could also think of startling phrases and brilliant expressions without using any gadget. The simple reason being: Prolonged use of these gadget-oriented mediums had atrophied the brain cells. The brain was rejuvenated when it went back to the conventional manner of writing for some time. The great Edward W Said of Columbia University would wield a pen on paper to write his long essays and then type those out and email to the newspapers. He hated the computer screen!
Many old-age homes in India and abroad discourage and dissuade senior citizens from using WhatsApp and Instagram and encourage them to write something in the conventional manner because screen-messaging causes and aggravates Parkinson’s, as well as Alzheimer's diseases. A leading newspaper in India has very recently reported that because of the online mode of imparting education, youngsters are losing their command of any language even faster and quicker! Mind you, languages don't bloom in a hurried manner. They need leisure to blossom.
Technology has its flip-side as well. Human and humane attributes don't thrive in an over-gadgeted milieu. In order to allow humane traits and our linguistic heritage to survive and thrive, it's imperative to use these mediums of the new age sparingly, as well as judiciously.
The writer is an advanced research scholar of Semitic languages, civilisations and cultures.
