Teenagers are Inventing Their Own Online Language

A recently published research study from Lisa Whittaker, a postgraduate student at the University of Stirling in Scotland, has shown that teenagers are increasingly inventing their own language for use on social networking sites to avoid their parents finding out about what they are up to.

Teenagers wishing to hide the fact that they may be drinking, for example, are using the expression ‘Getting MWI’ (Getting Mad With It), as their parents are unlikely to know what this means, even if they have taken the trouble to look at their children’s online profiles. A turn of phrase to indicate that they are embarrassed is ‘Ridneck’, a corruption of the word redneck.

Lisa states “Young people often distort the languages they use by making the pages difficult for those unfamiliar with the distortions and colloquialisms." There are slang terms in almost every language, and it is a common feature for the younger generation to distort the language to keep some things private. This has been in evidence for years, even before the larger online world of the internet had developed.

"The language used on Bebo seems to go beyond abbreviations that are commonly used in text messaging, such as removing all the vowels.”This is not just bad spelling, which would suggest literacy issues, but a deliberate attempt to creatively misspell words.”

It is not only their parents that they should be concerned about, it has been known for employers to look at their employees’ pages on social networking sites, such as Facebook, in order to see if they have been saying anything defamatory about the company or anything that could bring the company into disrepute. Instances regularly appear in the press about employees losing their job over such comments.
Perhaps more of a worry should be potential employers looking at their profile pages, in such a digital age a prospective employer can gleam such much more about you than from your résumé alone. They now have a whole online world in which they can take a look to find out more.

Perhaps teens should remember that not all parents are oblivious to their online activities, and more pertinently, that their new take on language may move into the mainstream. In the constant battle between the two age groups, youngsters are increasingly coming up with new variations in their language to deceive their parents.