Of course, chatting has more or less become a way of life for many of us. As a matter of fact, it won’t be farfetched to say that there are lots of us that can’t go a day without chatting. That is just how far the world has come, and we are embracing it with open arms. Chatting is a form of medium on its own, it is a world set apart and it seems to have its own set of rules that do not apply to the rest of the online space. Chatting can be fluid and it can be rigid, it all depends on those that are actually involved in the chatting. The internet made the world a global village, and thanks to chatting, it got even smaller. Chatting breaks multitudes of barriers that are usually between people. And everyone has the ability to be free and vocal because they only have to physically interact with their devices. I believe I have been chatting since chatting actually became a thing. Right from the days of 2go and Facebook and then subsequently when Whatsapp started. And with the advent of emojis and stickers, chatting was made even more fun and enjoyable for everyone that was involved. As it stands now, there are only a few people that do not chat. Even old men and women have Whatsapp accounts or Facebook accounts. And there is no way you can have an active Whatsapp account and you won’t be chatting. What then is it for? Chatting has become an integral part of our lives and therefore it has come to stay. Many of us are addicted to it, we do it now so often that sometimes when we do not do it we would feel the effects on our bodies. As for me, there are upsides and downsides to this chatting of a thing. And I have experienced them both. To me, one of the good it has done is the ability to get information fast. If you are a student in a higher institution, then you would very well know the value of being online as often as possible. Because news travels so fast that if you are caught unawares there can be dire consequences. From groupchats to personal DMs, we receive new information all the time and we make use of them to the best of our ability to make ourselves better. On the other hand, it has also had adverse effects. And one of them I have come to notice is that it affects our social life. I have seen people that are great at holding conversations in chats, but once you meet in person, they really have no idea what to do. Many people do not really enjoy going out anymore to visit friends because they can chat and gist in their DMs. You can be indoors for the entire day but you would be keeping correspondence with people scattered all over the world. This aspect of social media has eliminated a lot of things that used to be so much fun for a lot of us. But then, that particular disadvantage is also an advantage. It is all about perspective. One more adverse effect it has on people is when it comes to spelling. When most people chat, they abbreviate most of their words. And many of them become so used to that style of writing that it bleeds into their physical life as well. They write like class assignments like that, use it for examinations and letters. Yes, these things happen! I was on the verge of getting carried away like this, but I had to stop myself. And the best way I did that was to stop abbreviating my words. When chatting, I write words in full. Instead of writing words like “lyf”, “xup”, and “awva”… I will write them correctly like “life”, “what’s up”, and “how far”. But then, this is not the only issue with chatting. Thanks to auto-correct, we have also seen that many of us do not really know how to spell anymore. Because as we start the word, the algorithm takes over and suggests the rest, and if we get it wrong it will fix it for us. When making use of our devices we might not notice it, but it would become glaring when we have to write things physically, as in with pen and paper. That is when we would realize we didn’t know spelling as well as we had thought we did. But what am I saying? That is life for you. This is an evolution and the best thing to do is to get onboard. You can’t ever fight evolution, you will always lose. You just have to figure out a way to adapt and do so in a way that you do not lose your soul in the process. Like I said before, chatting has come to stay. It is not going anywhere! There are good sides to it and there are bad sides to it, it is all a matter of perspective. We have to be intentional about what we want out of it, we have to be clear about the lines we would not cross. So that no matter how much we make use of it, no matter how regular or constant it is, we would always know that we are in charge and we are not addicted. Thank you for reading. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section below, I would love to know what you are thinking. Till we meet in the next post. This post is inspired by the second topic of this week which is Chatting On Social Media. Feel free to take part. Borderimage credit: @deimage.
August De Richelieu
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Clam Lo
On the abbreviations issue, it is very true that most people have forgotten how to spell due to chatting, i love your writeup, it broadens around your world, your school life included, i can imagine not getting information on time, especially if you live off campus, chatting has made that easier then.
Omo... information is key indeed. And when it comes to social media, if you snooze you lose!
Thak you for reading.
Yes indeed chatting has come to stay and everyone is trying to get along with it. The purpose of chatting and as to make communication simple it is now left for us to choose what we chat about and how we chat
You're absolutely right, I love the second side effect of chatting you mentioned. I have do many friends who like making use of abbreviations and it has affected them a lot. Right from my secondary school days, my teacher has always advised us to spell words as they should be spelt and I was lucky that I listened to her.
@ksam come and read this oo, I know you are good with spelling somehow and also spelling the right way, confusing your village people lolz 🤣🤣.
Thank you so much for sharing this beautiful piece with us sir.
Hehe... it will come to a time when they will be writing something serious and find out they are making use of too many abbreviations. It is all a process though.
Thank you for reading.
Hahaha, yes that's true, I have seen it so many times. I do make use of abbreviations but that's when I'm speaking pigin 🤓.
You are welcome Sir 🥰.
That abbreviation part has done a lot of damages to young ones and the auto correct part makes one lazy.
Though chatting has it advantages , it just important we don't get carried away by the disadvantages.
Yay! 🤗
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We should not get addicted to it by any means and if we get addicted to it, it will become very harmful for us. However, it is true that everything has its pros and cons. To be honest now I don't chat at all but before I used to chat a lot. Thank you for gifting us with this beautiful article
Wow... as it stands, I Can't even imagine not chatting at all. How will I know what is going on? But then, different strokes for different folks.
Thank you for reading.
Sure, there are some of us, including me that can't stay without chatting with a friend. It is part of live and it has come to stay. Other social media platforms for chatting will till come. Like, Telegram, which I am into it. Before, I didn't know how to chat but now I am a freak to it.
Thank you @bruno-kema for this piece.
Only God knows how long it took me to stop abbreviating words even when it comes to serious matters. I remembered my first month on Hive I had to read my comments and article many times before I publish because in one way or the other I know I had abbreviated something. I really don't see the importance of that abbreviation. If it is about the speed, auto correct is faster than that. My very close friend in school has spelling issues those days because of chatting, he got so used to it that he uses the short form of almost very word and even applies it during examinations which really affected him.
But like you said it all depends on use to devise ways to adapt in such a way that we will not be affected negatively.
Thank you so much for sharing this with us 🥰.
hehe... I guess we all have been there at one time or the other of our lives. For many, it will only be when they experience the consequence that they will change. Until then...
Thank you for reading.
Heheheh🤣🤣 I pray the Experience comes very fast before it lands them into trouble 🤗🥰
I'm among those that don't fancy going out anymore because of phone and chats 🤦, I would stay alone and don't feel lonely as long as I'm chatting... it's good and bad😁
Well said boss
Social media chatting has been the medium and most vibrant forum to pass information within the global.. even thou it bad effect has made it to be so tattered including fraudsters and scammers that have made it a place of operation
Oh I struggled with that aspect of abbreviation for a very long time. I almost took that to the exam Hall... Wait did I say almost? I meant I took it to the exam. Thank God I was always very conscious,that was what save me from those seeming mistakes.