For those accustomed to social media’s quirkiness, hashtags are a fact of life. Love them or hate them, they’re unfortunately essential to discovery and curation on many digital platforms. They’ve infiltrated every facet of advertising and even our speech. There’s no doubt the infamous trend is an influential one, but is it dumbing us down?
Not Just for Tagging Anymore
In 2007, Google employee Chris Messina launched the trend that would make thousands of people silently seethe in rage while browsing the Internet. The idea was an innocent one: by adding the pound symbol to a word or phrase, users could tag tweets so that others could search for specific topics amid the chatter.
Of course, it worked as intended, but users had other ideas about their purpose. It wasn’t long until hashtags spiralled into what linguists refer to as paralanguage, a nuanced form of speech that includes pitch, intonation and gestures. Removed from the context of Twitter, it became something of an ironic joke until overuse diluted the punchline. Before long, other platforms picked up on the trend and the hashtag was assimilated into the ubiquity of online life.
Hashtags have become a staple of modern communication, infiltrating our language in everything from social media to casual verbal jokes.
#YOLO
Colloquial hashtag usage tends to boil down to one of two things: tagging—its original intent—and lazy communication.
You know how it’s nearly impossible to discern emotion in texts and messages? It’s a real problem plaguing online interaction, and the culprit is often inadequate communication skills. Not everyone is gifted with words, but a huge part of communication is how we practice it.
But who needs to think when you can abuse a shortcut?
In many cases, hashtags at the ends of statements serve as an emoticon of sorts according to UC Berkeley Linguist Geoffrey Nunberg and is often used due to an inability to convey emotions through words. Instead of working to articulate how we feel, we can just as easily slap a hashtag in front of a string of words and avoid dealing with it directly.
Experts argue that this cycle of avoidance harms our cognitive abilities and stunts expression.
#firstworldproblems
Every new form of expression meets resistance, and hashtags are no exception.
But culture can’t stay rigid and unchanging. Language is fluid, and it’s important to remember that the Internet’s influences affect its evolution. Just last year, the Oxford Dictionary introduced another round of Internet-birthed words, including a meme (doge), abbreviations (TBH and IRL) and slang made popular by sitcom (yaaas!).
Some argue this points to even more examples of how Internet culture is dumbing us down, but change isn’t inherently negative. It also opens up new channels for creativity and expression, allowing us to explore new styles and personas, which is important to developing a well-rounded and diverse set of skills.
As an added bonus? We finally have a tool for conveying sarcasm online.
BlueArx Knows Social Media So You Don’t Have To
Whether you’re for or against the pesky pound sign, it’s not going away anytime soon. Luckily, we know all about hashtag etiquette to keep you from looking ridiculous. Let our team of social media managers work to make sure you’re getting the most out of all available channels.
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