Hello
Everyone
The
dominance and creation of certain words in our language is a key indicator of
what we are finding important in the way we live our lives.
In my part
of the world, Australia, the word ‘selfie’ has so much importance that it was
used as a key communication tool in the recent Government election.
A selfie is
a picture that a person takes of themselves, preferably with a celebrity or
someone of importance. The photo is then
uploaded to social media. This is part
of an engaging trend in language indicating a more selfish attitude.
University
of California psychologists used the Ngram Viewer to analyse word usage in 1.4
million books from the US and Britain since the 1800s. They found an increase in the use of words
relating to the self and acquisition such as ‘get’ and ‘choose. At the same time, there has been a decrease
in words relating to generosity, responsibility and accountability such as ‘give’,
’obliged’, ‘authority’ and ‘belong’.
The theory
is that as we have moved from rural, low-tech societies to more urban,
high-tech ones there has been a greater use of words such as ’individual’, ‘unique’,
‘child’ and ‘self’.
Just as the
need arises to develop language to suit our highly technical worlds we also
have the power to create language and distinctions in language to create any
world we want.
My recent
book on Future Words is about that very point.
We have accepted a language based on a highly moral basis which uses
words such as right and wrong. Is it
time to create other priorities in language such as generosity , responsibility
and integrity?
