To take a stand

Language has always had an impact on people’s attitudes and internal wellbeing while we are constantly creating and remaking vocabulary (Giridharadas, 2010). The continued and changing human needs result in the reduction of one term and the emergence of another. Giridharadas defines word pairs such as “achievement/excellence” and “pleasure/fun” as distinct, despite the fact that they can be used interchangeably. The aim of this paper is to see if there is a connection between shifting meanings assigned to different terms in society, which are influencing different cultures around the world, and the use of electronic communications. Khan (2011) argues that electronic communication has transformed how people interact as well as the derived meaning of friendship.

This paper will use analyze the article written by Kahn (2011), an academic paper that attempts to determine the difference that the word “friend” has through different time frames to the contemporary world. Wellner (2005), also argue that communication has become ineffective due to the translation a message receives when conveyed through the electronic channels. Therefore, electronic communications have a significant impact on the meanings given to words over different time frames and eventually affect the cultures of people. Taking into consideration the thesis presented by Giridharadas (2010), it is evident that although words rise and fall, they have a potential of making and remaking people. The presented analysis seeks to reveal the existing link between Giridharadas’ thesis and electric communication.

The existing link between Giridharadas’ thesis and electric communication

Electronic communication has increasingly changed how people interact and communicate. According to Khan (2011) the meaning of the term ”friends” has undertaken a new shape. With the social media, it has become difficult to establish what the term means and even ascertain if the label exists or not. From Khan’s sentiments, it is easier to outline the existing relationship between Giridharadas thesis and electric communication. Apparently, electric communication has resulted to the development of terms which have the capability of making and remaking people. With electric communication, people have developed virtual friends whom they have never met in the real world. As a result, the term ”friend” has become a label without a deeper meaning as in the past.

When Giridharadas (2010) indicated that works make and remake individuals, the author was directly referring to the words ”pleasure” and ”fun.” The main aim of the author was to convey a sense related to changing the meaning of words. Giridharadas (2010) has strongly outlined factors that support his stand bringing in quotes from other sources to support his idea. For example, the author borrows Elizabeth Gilbert’s idea that Americans do not have the potential of relaxing in sheer pleasure (Giridharadas, 2010). The borrowed information was focused on supporting the author’s idea that cultural achievement has a great potential of permeating life today.

In comparison to the terms ”pleasure” and ”excellence,” it is evident that the words ”fun” and ”achievement” held much weight. ”Achievement” is significantly utilized to communicate an idea of a hardworking person. To the American’s, hardworking has always been the pinnacle of becoming successful since the historical times. Despite having ”excellence” as a term with an equal positive connotation, it is considered to be a term representing the quality of becoming excellent. Taking into consideration the generated findings from the Corpus of Historical American English, the frequency of words such as ”achievement” has significantly risen including that of ”fun” therefore supporting Giridharadas’ stand that the two words have more weight and depth (Giridharadas, 2010).

Giridharadas (2010) has continually utilized the Merriam-Webster dictionary in the article to provide a full definition of the identified terms and the depth provided to each word. With the help of the dictionary, the author provided that ”Fun” is a term that can be utilized in varied situations since it is a derived feeling from an amusing event. ”Pleasure” is defined through the use of bland statements such as a gratification state. The terms ”fun” and “achievement” are utilized to define interactivity while ”pleasure” and ”excellence” are not provided with the same sense of weight and effort.

Electronic communications have provided a platform that has a simplified interface providing benefits such as easy access to data, the venue for increased networking and social developments, sharing of global culture and improvements in security and privacy (Wellner, 2005). Social networks such as Facebook, emails and text messages are electronic communication techniques associated with negative cultures such as abbreviated languages or slang languages. Emailing and social media hinders the use of face to face communications. Social media leads to redefined meanings of words. The meaning attached to works provides a definition of how they are utilized or applied within the real world context (Khan, 2011). Before technological advancement and the establishment of electronic communication technology, a friend was an individual who one met on a real life basis and majorly spoke with over the phone. However, online communication has transformed the presented meaning changing how people define the term.

From the perspective of Weller (2005), it is evident that electronic communication has but face-to-face interactions and communications at a threat. Incidentally, people are constantly communicating through the use of emails which have both positive and negative impacts. Most companies use emails for communications with the aim of passing information to a large number of people at once. Use of emails comes necessary when the possibility of face to face communications is not possible. However, emails can have negative attributes as more often than not misunderstanding and conflicts arise from misinterpretation or poorly written emails. Use of emails leads to email overloads or damages as well as embarrassments from emails sent to the wrong people. Moreover, legal issues arise from the content of the emails.

Other negative tributes of emails are the reduced possibility of interpersonal communications between people. The authors have provided a case scenario of Roberts Golden Consulting in San Francisco where the managers have acknowledged the adverse effects associated with the use of emails. The management hence introduced a custom that Fridays the workers in the company would not use emails but rather engage in face to face communication or phone calls (Wellner, 2005). The company seems to be aware of the fact that emails arrive at their recipients without nonverbal cues such as gestures, facial expressions, tonal variations and eye contacts. Body language and non-verbal cues provide a significant percentage of meaning derived from a conversation. Therefore, email is not useful for delivering personal, sensitive and complicated information.

Conclusion

To conclude, Giridharadas chooses a stand that although words rise and fall, they have a potential of making and remaking people. The outlined thesis shares a similarity with electronic communication in that the technology has resulted in the loss of value of various terms such as ”friend.” The technology has transformed the way people interact and how people make friends, including the depth of the term.

References

Giridharadas, A. (2010). America and the Fun Generation. The New York Times. Retrieved on 12th Feb 2017 from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/30/us/30iht-currents.html?module=ArrowsNav&contentCollection=U.S.&action=keypress®ion=FixedLeft&pgtype=article

Kahn, J. P. (2011). What does ‘friend’ mean now? Boston.com. Retrieved on 12th Feb 2017 from http://archive.boston.com/lifestyle/articles/2011/05/05/what_does_friend_mean_now/

Wellner, A. S. (2005). Lost in Translation. Inc.com. Retrieved on 12th Feb 2017 from http://www.inc.com/magazine/20050901/managing.html