The first ever text was sent in 1992 from Neil Papworth. This was a huge staple in the timeline of the modern lives of the human race. This message said ‘Merry Christmas’ and the person receiving this text and Neil could have never known what this phenomenon was going to become. Speech has been a huge part of the human race and its development into what it is today. Without it we would be no different to a monkey or a bear. The funny thing is that it could be now the preferred type of communication for some people. Even though it is convenient and accessible there is a huge, important part missing from texting that makes speech sincere and meaningful; emotion.

The fact that emotion is missing from texting is undeniable. Because of this we have found ways to show what emotions we are expressing. One major way that we show emotion through text is ‘haha’. ‘Haha’ is there to represent laughter and is also an example of onomatopoeia as it is the noise we make when we laugh. In the text chat I had this is used to show I found what the other person said funny. I said “Haha good on ya. Take what he says literally” I didn’t need to add the ‘haha’ and it really doesn’t add much to the message except for showing that I found what the person before me said funny. The problem with using ‘haha’ is that it has become less meaningful over time. Nowadays when someone uses ‘haha’ they more than likely aren’t even laughing. You could even say that ‘haha’ has become a word you use when you have no response to something but still want the conversation to continue. ‘Haha’ could also sometimes be used in a sarcastic sense when somethings isn’t funny. All of these different uses of ‘haha’ can be confusing and you may not know if your making the person laugh. On the contrary in person laughter is a very different thing as laughter is very distinguishable and hard to fake which makes it sincere and meaningful which is what the text version lacks.

Swear words are a part of language we have invented to express the emotions that are not so good such as anger, spite and pain. When we use swear words we want to put more emphasis on the emotion you are trying to express. Sometimes the use of a swearword in speech can be so meaningful and powerful that it leaves you taken aback. The same can’t be said about the use of swear words in in text. An example of their ineffectiveness is the use of them in this example. “Mate if he asks u to move step one step. If he asked u to do the bickies f****** smash all of them. I f****** hate bickies.”. In this example I am talking about stacking the biscuits on the shelves and how I hate it and the use of the f word twice further exemplifies the emotion towards them. This may help to show that I really do hate biscuits but would it be the same if I said it in real life. In our real life chat Mustafa says “Why would you do drugs at f****** school” There was emotion behind the word he used and without it the sentence would sound different. The f word in this example adds anger to to his question as if he is mad about someone doing something stupid and if he didn’t use it he would be just asking a polite question. Removing the swear words in the text version would change the sentence much as you can’t hear the emotion behind them when you text. This is another reason I think it is harder to show emotion through text.

There is a part of our language that is very hard to identify if you speak a different language never mind if you can’t even hear the person speaking when your texting. This is sarcasm. Sarcasm is a large part of our language and comes into play a lot when we communicate through speech. The thing is that it could come into play a lot when we communicate through text but we would never know. Sarcasm is a language device we need to hear to confirm it is what it is. A prime example of sarcasm in text is my whole text conversation. From when I say “He says push that trolley. Push it real hard so all the sut falls off” to when Josh says “I could have got fired right then cause yea the door is private property or some s**t aye. Says it on the policy.”. Our whole text conversation is actually us being sarcastic and us joking about being stupid at work. This is a prime example of sarcasm not being obvious in text as to someone else reading this it would all be read as being serious. If our text conversation was instead spoken it would be obvious that we were being sarcastic as the tone of our voice would be easily recognized.

Texting nowadays has become a huge part of our daily lives but could never be as meaningful and sincere as spoken communication. The whole original reason texting was created was to be convenient and quick not as a way to have a meaningful conversation with someone. I believe some people have got spoken and text communication mixed up.