Rapid Erosion of Language Skills in the Digital Age

In our fast-paced digital world, the vernacular has undergone a seismic shift. The ubiquitous rise of social media platforms, Whatsapp, and various forms of concise communication has transformed the way we express ourselves. A trend that demands attention is the subtle yet profound erosion of traditional language skills.

It's fascinating how brevity has made deep inroads into the soul of digital communication. The increasing prevalence of abbreviations, emojis, and internet slang has fundamentally changed our language landscape. While these developments empower us to communicate more quickly and creatively, there is a growing concern that these alterations are impacting our command of formal language, grammar, and syntax.

Language is a dynamic entity, forever evolving with societal change. However, we must ensure that this evolution doesn't come at the cost of undermining key language competencies. As the gap between informal digital language and formal written and spoken language grows, we risk developing a generation that struggles with effective and professional communication in various contexts.

We have a responsibility as educators, employers, and thought leaders to encourage and maintain a balance. We need to cultivate environments that promote language learning and proficiency, ensuring that our digital communications do not overshadow our capacity for articulate, thoughtful dialogue.

Quite so often, I have seen some brilliant people getting ridiculed or get summarily dismissed just because they didn't have the right language skills. The power to articulate your thoughts and put it into a written medium so that it effectively and efficiently communicates, is indispensable. While simple mistakes in email communications can be ignored as most of these do limited damage, anything that goes out into the public domain has to be carefully administered. If you represent an organization and something goes from your official mobile to the public domain like a WhatsApp group, you should be extra careful with your communication in terms of grammatical errors and most importantly, correct sentences. No wonder that tests in the English Language continue to be a primary qualifier for most higher education programs. A lot of corporates have for long adopted tests in vocabulary, language and comprehension as qualifiers for someone that they would like to hire.

In this respect, there's an opportunity for ed-tech and digital platforms to step in, to create innovative solutions that can adapt to this change and even harness it for better learning. Let's use technology not as a tool for language erosion, but as a catalyst for language enhancement and cultural literacy.

Remember, language is our primary tool for connecting and communicating with the world. Let's ensure its evolution serves us rather than restricts us.?