Out With the Old Social Studies

A Disclaimer from CSI:

This study guide was created with the sole intention of helping out
scholars worldwide as welcome arms especially to the new members of
the World Scholars Cup community. While the CSI team aims to provide
everyone who uses our resources with accurate and up to date
information, we cannot ensure that everything in our study guides is
100% correct, especially when it comes to our analyses.

We advise you to not rely on these study guides alone but also continue
to extend your research, reading and revision to widen the scale and
depth of your knowledge. Do also take note that a good part of the
material in the World Scholar’s Cup curriculum is very much open to
interpretation, and so we recommend that everyone using our resources
also write notes for themselves as a supplement to our guides. Tip: Click
on italicised words in this study guide to increase your knowledge about
the topic!

Furthermore, we would like to warn the viewers of this study guide that
as much of the curriculum included is highly controversial, we would like
to stress that any information, opinions or ideas in this study guide do not
reflect upon the views and standpoints of our organisation. We owe you
all apologies in advance if any of you find the content unsettling,
offensive or upsetting.

To learn more about the Champion Scholar Initiative, visit our website at
https://thescholarsinitiative.weebly.com/ May you have any concerns, do
not hesitate to contact us at thescholarsinitiative@gmail.com

Many thanks to all the scholars who put in the extra mile to formatting,
researching and preparing this study guide.

Bernice Zarzuela Jacob de Jesus Juan Lobien

Khairani Syafina Aimy Madayag Samuel Tango

2
Out With the Old Social Studies

Contents
Introductory Questions 4

Understanding Novelty-Seeking (and -Speaking) 5

Novelty-seeking behavior 5
Diderot Effect 5
Bandwagon effect 6
Biogeography 6
Language in accordance to communities 7
Fads 7
Lifespan of a meme and everything about them 8
Trend vs fads vs memes 9

There’s Accounting for Taste | Trends in Fashion 11

Fashion as a first-world problem 11
The concept of haute couture 12
Fast fashion and obsolescence 13
The concept of rental clothing 14

Keep it New by Force | Planned Obsolescence Error! Bookmark not

defined.
Phoebus Cartel & the idea of planned obsolescence 16
Product durability index 16
Planned obsolescence 17

🤔📚 | Renovating the Dictionary 18

Semantic drift 18
Words evolving through time 18
Terms evolving thru semantic change 21
The Great Vowel Shift of the English language 23
Harmful trends towards the English language 23

3
Out With the Old Social Studies

Introductory Questions

● What makes something new?

● Who decides when something new becomes old?

● Do products age in the same way that people do? Do ideas?

● When you were younger, did you have any hobbies or interests
that you no longer have now? Why did you grow out of them?

● Did you ever become interested in something only to hear your

parents say, “it’s just a phase”? Was it just a phase?

● How many times do you have to listen to a song you like before
you get tired of it? What about for rereading a good book, or
watching a favorite movie?

● Can you think of something you used to say a lot that you don’t
say anymore?

● Can you think of a word or phrase that used to mean something

other than what it means now?

● Have you ever stopped (or started) doing something because

everyone else stopped (or started) doing it too?

● Do your parents like to listen to the same music as you do?

● How often do you buy new clothes? How about a new phone?

4
Out With the Old Social Studies

Understanding Novelty-Seeking (and -

Speaking)

Novelty-seeking behavior
In psychology, novelty-seeking behavior is defined as the tendency
to seek varied, novel, complex, and intense sensations and experiences and
the willingness to take risks for the sake of such experience (Zuckerman
1979, 1994). Simply put, novelty-seeking behavior is a trait that drives you
to make decisions. It is claimed to be one of the traits that can keep you
happy and healthy. Novelty-seeking behavior has been linked to genetics,
dopamine, and age.
Of course, everything depends on the person. There are so many
thrilling activities that one can do now like surfing, skydiving, base
jumping, etc. There are so many things to do that one might itch to finish
them all; however, it can most probably be seen as a good thing that we
have all these things to do!

Diderot Effect
We’ve all felt that urge to buy something once we see it, and hey! At
least we know what this effect is called now. I (Jacob) myself have
personally bought a lot of fitnessy stuff ever since I’ve gotten into skating!
Many stores, supermarkets, and groceries have their own strategies to lure
their customers to buy more. Some groceries tend to spread out all
necessities like eggs, bread, and fruits for consumers to have a higher
chance to browse the other sections. IKEA is a great example of this. IKEA
has a one-way walkway through the entire store to encourage consumers
to see its other products. As such, consumers have admitted to buying
more than what they need when they visit an IKEA store. So yes, businesses
do take advantage of this effect; however, it would depend on which

5
Out With the Old Social Studies

perspective to see if it should be discouraged or not. From a personal

standpoint, it causes you to spend more, but you’re likely to feel happy with
the purchase. From a commercial standpoint, it helps earn more revenue.
From a national perspective, companies earn more revenue, so their
corporate taxes are higher.

Bandwagon effect
The Bandwagon effect revolves around the concept of conformity.
Scholars who have participated in last year’s round might be familiar with
the Asch Paradigm, which was a study that proved that people conform to
the majority of the answers even if they knew that they would be wrong.
The Bandwagon effect is seen in everyday life, for example, people tend to
buy fashion that is currently trending. People have even been seen to vote
for the winning politician even if they initially intended to vote for another.
In a sense, it helps create social harmony because people are more
likely to bond with those who have similar traits, but on the other hand, it
discourages individuality. In other words, if followed, it lessens the chances
of you standing out.

Biogeography
Biogeography is basically the division of flora and fauna into regions
on the globe.
International businesses actually adapt to the needs of nations in
order to reach different markets. This is called localization, which last year’s
scholars may be familiar with. Businesses also tend to employ several
marketing strategies if it guarantees them larger revenue, which probably
means that business will market their products differently given the
opportunity.

6
Out With the Old Social Studies

As for gene-control for novelty-seeking behavior, I don’t really see

any advantages to reducing the gene’s behavior. In fact, it might cause
curiosity and productivity to decrease. Increasing novelty-seeking
behavior may also not be viable as it could increase our frustration levels.
Besides, gene-editing is quite a controversial topic and it would be best to
leave it untouched.

Language in accordance with communities

Words can actually show the way a person feels in amazing ways!
Studies conducted have actually shown that people adjust their behavior
to people that they like, and this includes their use of language. People also
tend to adjust their language when welcomed into new communities, and
the opposite can be seen when the person feels detached from said
community. Of course, it would be in the best interest of many
communities to keep their members, and applying this concept, they
might be able to keep them if they encourage the usage of their language.
It would be quite useful in many circumstances to make an estimate of
how many people would be in their community in the future.
A good example would be people on the internet. Internet slang like
lol and lmao would commonly be used, but more often than not, these
words are not used once we converse in person.

Fads
As a young child in their prime of discovery, curiosity, and wow, a
social media account at the age of 6, I (Bernice) quickly became engrossed
in the internet fads that plagued every site from Facebook to even the local
news. 2014, The Dress Debate and ALS Ice Bucket: I was part of that

7
Out With the Old Social Studies

(although I didn’t really pour ice-cold water over my head, I encouraged

others to do so.) Don’t forget the Loom Band trend. 2016, the Mannequin
Challenge and the lesser-known “Andy’s Coming!” too. My favorite; fidget
spinners. I bought one when I was in California-- 15 dollars. I didn’t even get
to bring it home. Others include PSY’s signature Gangnam Style, flossing
(ugh) and the actually unhealthy and dangerous toy slime craze (don’t ask
me why). However, was I even aware I was part of these fads. I doubt it.
During the early 2010s, many caught onto fads and popularised them;
without even realising they did it. They just start it. Meanwhile, in our age;
many people just start fads with the intention of going viral, for clout-- it’s
why most just pop off the face of the internet. Poor influencers. However,
fads are still really in the now nowadays. Sometimes fads are cool, other
times they’re just plain cringey.

Lifespan of a meme and everything about them

Something viral commences with its first set of people experienced
approving the specific meme or fad, and then they expose this to another
batch, and that batch shares it to another one, and the phenomenon just
prolongs. Its magic is seen all throughout, however it also fades when it
gets boring. Social media users are like babies (not literally, though). When
it holds a handbell jingle for a long time, it dares to find another one, so
let's say it finds a toy maraca. We detect for an alternative when a "before
featured" becomes "featureless". Influence is heavy in these platforms,
because people tend to follow 'the trend'. I think that in order to make
something viral, we need a media made by an entity to influence and
inspire other people (but some "influencers" remain unknown, such as
memes) to do similar. To expand its lifespan, we need another media,
however it has to stand out and be unique. For instance, we can have the
song "Truth Hurts" by Lizzo in 2017. During its release, it wasn't quite

8
Out With the Old Social Studies

prominent nor noted. Howbeit, it became a hit when it was showcased in

the Netflix film "Someone Great". Then, after this, it was even utilized by Tik
Tok users in their videos. I think that a meme's duration varies depending
on factors such as location and the people it reaches and touches. For its
audience, an example is a meme for accountants, whereas if it only relates
to the people in the occupancy, it reaches a moderate amount of audience
and will last for a while. However, if it also relates not only to them but to
other people, it will probably prolong to a much longer time scale. Or, it
may be because of new phenomenons going viral on the internet each and
every new day. This January 2020, new events came up and down so easily.
Well, of course, the internet society has made memes of most events
taking place in the first month of the year, so memes came and faded
effortlessly. To lengthen a meme's lifespan, I believe the only way is to be
lucky. Fortunate, such as celebrities sharing the meme, or having another
entity do similar and relate to the community, but still linking to the
original meme.

Trend vs fads vs memes

Trends
I'm pretty sure most (if not all) have heard of this word. When we say
trend, we link it to a mutually-shared subject or topic. We can take fashion
as an example, categorized "trendy". Probably, in the 1900s, Men wore kilts
or long skirts, which were considered to be mutual. However, nowadays if
you see a man wearing a skirt, the view of it would be way different than
the way it was seen in the past. A trend can last for weeks, months, and
years depending on its impact. Examples in fashion are leather clothing,
pastels and neon-bright colored attires (for women). Note that fashion isn't

9
Out With the Old Social Studies

the only source of a trend. We have other categories, such as music,

gaming, and movies (Look at the trending tab in your Youtube app!).

Fads
Hmmmph. A fad is similar to a trend, however it's duration is much
less. It can last up to days, weeks, or months. In my school when I was in
Grade 4, the Koreans of my batch brought spicy instant noodles and
borrowed hot water from the teacher's faculty room. Also, in the same
period, Korean Jackstones was played all around the campus. These are
some examples of fads. In other groupings, we have socks worn with heels
and Rubix cubes. Thus, the difference between a trend and fad is its time
scale.

Memes
I'm pretty sure y'all are excited about this. I think that all memes
show either/both an audio and/or visual representation, and they relate to
an experience of someone's life. This involvement could probably be
something that's embarrassing or humorous, to the point that it becomes
hilarious and silly (sometimes even sad cringe).

10
Out With the Old Social Studies

There’s Accounting for Taste | Trends in Fashion

Fashion as a first-world problem

Fingernail styles and manicures have always seemed to be personal,
just the way fashion is, it’s a form of self-expression. In fact, a new style was
created in honor of women in the armed forces during the Second World
War - nails were almond-shaped and painted in various shades of red.
Quite often, manicure trends are usually initiated by famous celebrities like
Rihanna or Britney Spears. Furthermore, it’s still a question as to why some
of the oldest of styles come back decades later once again to persist. There
are apparently a few theories explaining this phenomenon, being the “the
20-year rule” and the “50-year rule”. Each theory basically suggests that a
currently trending item will go back in trend 20 or 50 years after, repeating
itself over some time. But another theory introduces a method which
defeats the cyclist nature of fashion and trends, which was the finding of
the correlation between fashion and economy - namely the “Hemline
Theory” (George Taylor) which found that women were looking for more
“investment pieces” or classics when the market crashed in the early 1900s.
Classics will always remain timeless and well-needed. Thus, the question
remains as to whether or not you should invest on trending pieces, hoping
it goes back to trend decades later, or pieces that prove to be timeless and
(most of the time) affordable.
The term first-world problem has been around since the late 1990s
and only saw its resurgence in 2011, long after we learned to stop talking
about the “third-world”, in more appropriate terms a “developing world”.
For a start, its modern usage might have smug to it. So it’s also a
humblebrag. A condescending and dehumanising humblebrag. In
connection with this, there are people out there with only a few pieces of

11
Out With the Old Social Studies

clothing barely even decent, some without any at all. Yet most people
nowadays complain that they “dON’t hAve aNYthINg tO wEar”, a merely
trivial and inconsiderate thing to say when there are barefoot and naked.

The concept of haute couture

Haute couture is described as the creation of exclusively tailored
clothing made with high-end materials and fabrics constructed by hand
from start to finish with extreme attention to details by capable sewers. It
literally translates into “high dressmaking”-- that in modern France, only
firms that meet high-defined standards can use the protected term. In
other words, haute couture is runway fashion, respected to the highest
degree by the wealthy and the middle-class alike; in fact many used to look
up to haute couture as their inspiration for their own outfits-- emphasized
on the “used”. Instead of using runway looks as inspiration, many use
platforms like Instagram & Pinterest to find their styling cues from
influencers and bloggers. With direct connections and a bigger podium for
their followers, online celebrities are becoming the new inspiration of
people today. However, with the ups and downs of ever-evolving trends
and fashion fads it’s becoming harder (even for me) to cope up. Yesterday
neon became the trend because of Billie Eilish’s outstanding performance
at the Grammys, and today it’s vintage. Everything in your Explore page
changes every second and some day you’re fashionable and the next
you’re not-- it’s very hard to keep up with changing trends making it harder
to fit in. However, the rise of platforms like these become a part of our
identity and culture, as long as we continue to cultivate it, we’ll become
our own kind of fashion too.

12
Out With the Old Social Studies

Fast fashion and obsolescence

Fast fashion is the plague in the many “first-world issues” discussed
above. If you don’t know what fast fashion is, it’s the demand of consumers
for stylish clothing at a low cost. Or that’s what we thought. In the contrary,
the retailers create that demand because selling a crapton of clothes is
really profitable. Rather, instead of replenishing their stock, they replace
sold-out clothing with new ones with different style— making our current
clothing outdated and unfashionable. Furthermore, they maximise their
profit by manufacturing them out of sweatshops; where workers are
forced to work 14-16 hours a day under inhumane conditions, exposed to
carcinogenic and dangerous chemicals and not even paid the right salary
to live off a month. Not only does the rate of fast fashion affect the living
workforce in regions of Asia, it also negatively affects environmental
factors. Hazardous materials from unmonitored factories are dumped into
streams, lakes and other bodies of water killing life. In fact, since the
clothes are so easily worn out, consumers are throwing out old clothing at
unprecedented rates. 5% of our landfills are textile waste. Brands are also
incinerating old stock because donating it would “ruin their image”. What
brands, exactly? H&M, Topshop, Zara, Forever 21, Bershka, Urban Outfitters,
Cotton:On etc. TL;DR: Fast fashion is when retailers do not replenish old
stock and rather replace them with new styles to force consumers to buy
more “fashionable” clothing in lieu of their old unfashionable ones—
maximised by inhumane sweatshops in impoverished areas in Asia such
as Bangladesh and negative impact on the environment. In conclusion,
please do go thrift shopping and donate your old clothes instead of
throwing them out.

13
Out With the Old Social Studies

The concept of rental clothing

Rental clothing has been deemed as a convenient and easy way for
people to dress up and style themselves appropriately, especially for formal
events or special occasions in which they use types of clothing not usually
worn for everyday activities. Through services such as rental clothing,
people are presented with a way to save their money and closet space, as
they do not need to keep the clothing they have rented for themselves.
Rental clothing is also an eco-friendly alternative to buying clothes
normally. Most articles of clothing are discarded without recycling, despite
having parts of these outfits that could still be used to make future
creations, whether for the purpose of fashion or something else entirely.
Rental clothing reduces the amount of fast fashion that gets tossed in the
trash after you physically grow out of them or they are no longer deemed
as fit for your personal style. A good example for a time most people use
rental clothing is during prom season and even weddings, when rental
businesses earn money for lending gowns and suits for clients who want
to look good for formal events without wasting their money on clothes that
they might even just wear once or twice for special events only. According
to Medium.com, millennials are three times likelier to use a service for
rental clothing as compared to those from other generations. This is most
probably due to the large scale financial crises that millennials go through.
Since this group in particular are faced with debts and other finances
needed, the practical solution to saving money which is the concept of
rental clothing saves the day.

14
Out With the Old Social Studies

Keep it New by Force | Planned Obsolescence

15
Out With the Old Social Studies

Phoebus Cartel & the idea of planned obsolescence

Phoebus Cartel was a group formed in a meeting by famous lighting

brands such as Philips, Osram and General Electric in discussion of the so
called idea “planned obsolescence”. Having already discussed the
existence of a 117 year old lightbulb, Phoebus Cartel’s aim was to demolish
this idea to prioritize and increase sales. After all, buying bulbs that last a
lifetime would mean the company would be gaining less and less
repeating orders from their customers. And although their first aim was to
create brighter and energy-efficient bulbs, their products came to prove
nothing but a significant drop in the bulb’s life span. This is pretty much a
clear example of the term. But of course, the idea was praised later on as
the “new god” of the American Business elite by the late nineteen-twenties
as the repetitive-sales model gained more popularity.

However, on the other hand, we do have a few ideas to oppose the first
idea -- one suggesting that perhaps the term never existed in the first
place, but instead being misunderstood as a cunning method to selling
your products, when really each action taken by the business was to satisfy
the customers wants and needs. Sometimes, to do this, it would come with
a few drawbacks considering some features could be enhanced by the
removal of another in some cases -- like the removal of the earphone jack
in the newer iPhone to make way for better speakers. For instance, more
people would probably opt for cheaper and less durable bulbs for the
cheaper prices in comparison to the costly long-lasting light bulbs.

Product durability index

Now that you’ve explored a few perspectives on planned obsolescence,
here’s another one! This time, an initiation led by the French government

16
Out With the Old Social Studies

to battle against the threats of planned obsolescence -- whether it’d be on

the environment or economy. In order to decrease waste and
consumerism, France is contemplating measures like labeling and rating
home appliances or products a 1-10 based on three judgements: the
product’s build quality, durability and repairability. Once the measure has
been approved,

Planned obsolescence
Let us first dive into the literal definition of obsolescence: Obsolescence is
the process of becoming obsolete or outdated and no longer used.
Planned obsolescence is the term defined as a “strategy” or “tactic” used
by companies to increase their sales. Usually, the term would apply when
a company tries to ensure repeat purchases from their customers
deliberately by creating their products never to last. Similar to the way
Apple has been treating their products, replacing older phones with newer
ones, making the older ones seem less valuable than the newer ones --
therefore, increasing their sales. Or perhaps the way companies
disapproved of the idea of a long life lasting bulb knowing it would
decrease their sales, that’s planned obsolescence.

17
Out With the Old Social Studies

🤔📚 | Renovating the Dictionary

Semantic drift
Semantics is the study of language and all of its branches. Semantic
drift refers to the change in the meaning of words over time either due to
ignorance or deliberately. It has become more evident in recent years due
to the more casual language being used everywhere. Regarding the
question of if semantic drift keeps language fresh or weakens it, this could
go both ways. It keeps language fresh in the sense that it is ever-changing;
people come up with new meanings for it and could resurrect the word
entirely. It also weakens our ability to communicate because it increases
our tendency to resort to simple words and meanings.

Words evolving through time

nonplussed

(of a person) surprised and confused so much that they are unsure how to
react. Informal, new meaning: Not bewildered, unconcerned by.

disinterested

not influenced by considerations of personal advantage, neutral and

unbiased. Informal: not interested. Oftentimes, the usage of disinterested
is mistaken for the usage of uninterested, vice versa.

aggravated

make (a problem, injury, or offense) worse or more serious. Informal, new

meaning: annoy or exasperate (someone), especially persistently.

18
Out With the Old Social Studies

extra

Doing more than what’s required and due; going past particular
expectations than what you actually asked for. Informal: trying too hard,
over the top, excessive, maybe a little dramatic; often being
inappropriate.

could care less

The phrase is supposed to be “couldn’t care less”. Logically, if you could

care less, there’s some implication that there is some care. When someone
says “could care less”, that means they are concerned. Supposed phrase
and meaning: Couldn’t care less; used to express complete indifference.

basic
A person who fails to develop own personal tastes, adopting often boring
conformist attitudes and likings. Said basic person has no real personality,
one who is only interested in mainstream and popular trends in the way
they act, dress and behave. Essentially, a basic person is devoid of any
defining character and intelligence to socialise on the simplest level.
Almost like my classmates.

bald-faced

Bald-faced lie; The idea of this phrase is that the liar doesn’t even have
facial hair to hide his expressions, leading to the easily discoverable lie yet
told anyway.

irregardless
The word irregardless is used by people who mean to say regardless.
According to Webster, it is a word, but since the prefix, "ir" and the suffix
"less" both mean "not or with" they cancel each other out making it a
double-negative, confusing and jumbled.

19
Out With the Old Social Studies

plethora

This medical term used to describe “excess bodily fluids” in the 1500s, but
common usage led to it becoming “by a large or excessive amount of
(something.” by the 18th century. Today, it still stands by that very
definition.

awful

The suffix “ful” emphasizes its root word; “painful” meaning full of pain,
“careful” meaning full of care and so on. But “awful” doesn’t really mean
full of awe, does it? The term is used to emphasize the extent of something,
especially something unpleasant or negative.

incredible

Well, based on the prefix and the root word, 15th century CSI would’ve
probably thought it meant not reliable or untrustworthy; “in” meaning not,
and “credible” meaning reliable, but it actually means remarkable and
extraordinary. The word is used for its positive connotations, and rarely for
its negative meaning.

fortuitous

This happening by accident or chance; however, its similarity to fortune

connected it to luck: happening by a lucky chance; fortunate.

super
This was originally used as a suffix meaning “above”, “beyond” and “over”;
but its common usage became “very much”.

20
Out With the Old Social Studies

Terms evolving thru semantic change

etymology

The origin of a word.

metaphor

A figure of speech used to relate objects to one another without using

comparative speech “as” or “like”; representing a concept. “You are my
shining light.” describing a better world without any clouds for me.

synecdoche

Another figure of speech used when a part is used to represent a whole.

For example, “The White House released a statement on the spreading
nCoV.” Note: Stay safe, scholars! ~CSI team

metonymy

The substitution of the name of an attribute or adjunct for that of the thing
meant. Not to be confused with synecdoche (see above). For example, “The
crown was passed on from the queen to her oldest daughter.”; the crown
referring to control over the monarchy.

generalization and specialization

Generalisation refers to general statements obtained by inferences from

specific cases, while specialisation describes the opposite-- in-depth
statements made by obtaining specific and particular instances.

21
Out With the Old Social Studies

analogy

A cognitive process of comparison, two things are used typically for

explanation or clarification to develop a correspondence or similarity. For
example, here’s a quote from Leo Tolstoy: “truth, like gold, is to be obtained
not by its growth, but by washing away from it all that is not gold.”

hyperbole
An extreme exaggeration meant to be not taken literally.

pejoration

In linguistics, pejoration refers to the depreciation of a word’s meaning; as

when a word with a positive meaning slowly downgrades to a negative
definition. Perhaps the word “attitude” from the technical term meaning
“position, pose”. Since then, modern usage shifted it to meaning “mental
state, mode of thinking.” In more colloquial usage, someone saying “Woah,
he’s got an attitude” refers to an uncooperative and confronting manner
ought to be corrected.

amelioration

The literal opposite of pejoration (however less common), amelioration

describes the elevation and uplifting of a word; from a negative sense to a
much more positive meaning. I’m actually surprised by this, “nice” used to
mean “foolish, silly, absurd” when now it becomes, well, “kind, considerate
and friendly.” Nice!

word reappropriation

Well, reappropriation is like reclaiming of sorts. Groups of people reclaim

words that were previously disparaging and discriminating against that
very group. In religion, a reclaimed word would be “Jesuits” referring to the
members of the Society of Jesus; but over time people adopted it for

22
Out With the Old Social Studies

themselves so the term would apply solely for themselves in a generally

neutral and positive sense.

The Great Vowel Shift of the English language

Imagine life way back in the 1400s as an aristocrat. You’ve moved from
the North to the Southeast to escape the Black Death, but guess what, so
have every other aristocrat from the North. Since several parts of England
have extremely different accents, this has created a very weird and
different community where communication is nearly impossible. There
are several theories to stating why the Great Vowel Shift happened in the
first place but this makes the most sense to me.

This whole event was basically a transition from Middle English to Modern
English which basically means eliminating the idea of long vowels. To put
it into perspective, the words “meet” and “meat” would sound very
different back then. Not only were vowels changed, but several
consonant pronunciations were as well namely silent ones like the ones
in “night” and “knapsack.”

Harmful trends towards the English language

Alright, picture this for a moment: the internet has certain sites such as
Urban Dictionary where people can post definitions of slang words and
modern sayings or phrases that a huge chunk of millennials and those in
generation Z use on a day to day basis. “And I oop”, “sksksksksk”, “lol” and
a whole lot more—usually called SMS language, internet acronyms, or
texting abbreviations—are only part of the many factors and modern-day
trends that make a potentially harmful impact on the English language as

23
Out With the Old Social Studies

we know it. Believe it or not, many critics have been coming up with more
and more reasons for why texting and internet language could lead to the
potential downfall of how literate people are—with one even going so far
as to call it “penmanship for illiterates”. To some extent, I believe that
texting does have certain effects on how people write and speak, especially
if all they know are shortened words and acronyms that should really be
full phrases. Spelling, punctuation, and capitalization (for writing) could
also be an issue, considering that it may not matter anymore for those who
talk mainly through the internet if they spell, punctuate, and capitalize
correctly, as long as they get the message across. Nonetheless, these
trends are what make the modern English language complex and
constantly in a state of evolution, but whether they are truly harmful to
those who use it extensively, we may need to decide for ourselves.

24