AXFORD | Living in ’1984′

“By 2050, earlier, probably – all real knowledge of Oldspeak will have disappeared … The whole climate of thought will be different. In fact, there will be no thought, as we understand it now.”

- George Orwell, “1984.”

One of the most prevalent things anyone ever said came from me complaining about having to read “1984.”

“But it’s boring,” I remember wailing.

“Yes, but don’t you realize that we’re living in ’1984′?”

Those words have yet to escape my mind, told to me right before social networks like Facebook and Myspace were established. Before the Internet began to feed non-existent egos, you had to build rapport with another human being in order to get on a deep emotional level with them. This has been replaced by a dialogue box that anyone can see and misinterpret.

The Internet, in the most ironic of ways, is destroying communication between human beings. How many times did you refuse to leave the sanctity of your apartment or residence hall room just because someone was online?

It happens too often to the point where we become socially awkward around other people. People we have never seen in person and perhaps never will are suddenly on our minds all the time while people in our lives become transparent and nearly nonexistent.

More alarming is the destruction of our own language. As the news industry become more “blogger-friendly,” attention is being paid to what everyone thinks of an article rather than the news itself. This would be fine if the general public could still spell and had at least a basic knowledge of English grammar.

Someone right now is reading this and literally thinking, “Srsly? LOL! Plz!” Apparently America is converting to acronyms before establishing the metric system.

I used to think “1984″ was terrifying because the government is potentially watching us on the other side of the screen, tapping into our phones and listening to our conversations. But as the Internet continues to flourish and become more individual, I’m beginning to realize the biggest threat is ourselves.

Each word in the English language represents not only an idea but a tone, an attitude, a viewpoint. The more varied your diction is, the more effective you become at communicating your ideas. What happens when we as a society refuse to use certain words and destroy our own grammar? Essentially, we destroy ideas. We therefore lack the ability to solve problems – or at the very least, make progress.

The worst part of all of this is that I’m a hypocrite and just as guilty as anyone else. I find myself glued to my computer constantly without any real reason. But hopefully, I can change all that. The weather’s starting to get nicer. People are getting out more. I implore all of you to become more involved with the people around you, too.

Oh wait. BRB. I gotta go update my Twitter. And wait. I haven’t checked my Facebook in the last 15 minutes. TTYL.