In the mini-essay “The Effects of Social Media on How We Speak and Write”, the author argues that social media has introduced a new form of communicating through textspeak and abbreviations, the author Miles Young argues that these adaptations and changes represent an evolution of language rather than a deterioration of writing skills as many may say.  The central claim states that platforms like Twitter and Facebook foster concise, engaging communication that enhances social interaction and writing clarity. For example, the author states that we typically speak to a larger audience of hundreds and even thousands online. Another example is that due to Twitter’s character limit, people have become more concise in their speech. The intended audience may be an older audience such as parents and teachers, and the purpose of this essay is to refute negative perceptions of social media and show that social media is an evolution of language, not a deterioration. 

In the mini-essay, the author states, “With 80 percent of teen Internet users frequenting social media sites, it’s no wonder our real world social lives are seeing some changes.”. The author is using statistical evidence as a rhetorical strategy to strengthen her claim on how language has changed due to social media.  Using statistical evidence leads to a stronger claim by showing credibility to the reader. This statistic appeals to logos and logic, by grounding his claim in statistics and data, which highlights the overwhelming presence of social media in teenager’s lives. By stating that 80 percent of teens are using social media, the author has set a scope of how much social media influences our generation.

The author states in the mini-essay, “Short punchy sentences and the active voice are taking over as the most popular way to communicate in writing”. In this quote, the author attempts to appeal to the modern style of language. By using words such as “short” or “punchy” along with the mention of “active voice”, the author is highlighting a shift towards more dynamic and efficient writing styles. The author shows that limitations like Twitter’s character count are not drawbacks, but rather this rhetorical technique further strengthens the claim that social media has improved people’s communication skills, and also praises the techniques of communication used. 

The author also states in the mini-essay, “LOL” is now used to add a joking or lighthearted inflection to messages almost like a type of punctuation.”. In this quote, the author compares “LOL” to the standard grammatical punctuation to show the evolving nature of the English language through social media. It highlights how simple, yet fundamental, certain aspects of the language have changed. This metaphor challenges the idea that social media has made language worse by explaining how it can be a legitimate tool to add emotion and a sense of humor. This metaphor challenges traditional grammatical norms by suggesting that digital expressions such as “LOL” act like punctuation to convey tone and emotion which enriches speech. This puts down the idea that language is deteriorating by these abbreviations. Just because more and harder words are used does not mean that the language is better or eloquent.