How Facebook gives rise to new words

With the advent of new modes of communication, such as Facebook, language and social
interaction have gone through a major change, says an expert.
Recently, the New Oxford American Dictionary picked the Facebook term 'unfriend' as 2009
Word of the Year.
Ananda Mitra, professor and chair of the Department of Communication, has now revealed how
technology influences language and social interaction. "We have to remember that the most
important technology of communication is indeed language, and it is through the manipulation
of the symbols that make up the language of a culture that we define the culture. Thus all
elements of a cultural system influence the fundamental technology of language," Mitra said.
"The tools we use to improve our quality of life, from the rake to clear the fall leaves to
the Smartphone to unfriend those we do not want on Facebook, all influence how we make sense
of the world around us. As such these tools would necessarily influence language.
"Over the history of human civilization as new tools have been introduced we have had to
find ways to name them. The printing 'press' borrows the name from the wine 'press', just as
the word 'eyeglasses' mirrors the material used to make the tool, although very few
eyeglasses are now made of glass. We need to label the tools and as such technology
influences language and words," Mitra added.
When asked what was the equivalent to 'unfriend' before Facebook, Mitra said, "The idea of
unfriend is closest to what my colleague and friend Professor Michael Hyde would call the
opposite of acknowledging someone's existence. Drawing on the work of philosopher Emmanuel
Levinas, Professor Hyde urges us to ponder the fundamental question, "Where art thou?" and
the responsible answer of "Here I am." The unfriend option is equivalent to saying, "Here I
am NOT!"
"There cannot be an offline equivalent to unfriend because the process occurs at a
discursive level where it is much easier to say the 'NOT' via silence. It is much more
difficult to do in the offline mode, where the equivalent would have to be an overt act of
rejection - someone holding out their hand to shake and you actually not only not shaking
it, but pushing it back. Unfriending is more of a deliberate act than simply ignoring, but
it is basically pushing back and 'deleting' a relationship via a keystroke. Again, drawing
on Professor Hyde's work and Levinas, it is 'social murder'."
Mitra even explained how 'friending' on Facebook has changed society and social
interactions.
"The changes have been profound because the process of friending has transcended some of the
traditional barriers of interaction. For instance, the notion of geography has been
transformed and spatial location is certainly no impediment to maintaining a friendship on
Facebook. In fact, that would be considered the strength of Facebook," Mitra said.
Mitra added, "The length of time that it takes to make and maintain friendships has also
changed. With a click of a button one becomes a friend and privy (usually) to all the
details of an individual. Finally, Facebook has offered a voice to many who might not have
been able to make friends in the offline setting. These are the ones who were the 'uncool'
kids in high school. Now with the offline distance in space and time, these are the ones who
are most in need for the friendship but could also be the ones who are most often
unfriended. Our biases can continue on Facebook as they do offline."