Always On

Language in an Online and Mobile World

Naomi S. Baron

The first book to survey the field of electronically-mediated communication, position these technologies with respect to earlier language practices, and then evaluate the personal, cognitive, social, and linguistic consequences of contemporary language technologies.
· Analyses of instant messaging conversations, multitasking, away messages, Facebook, and mobile phone usage

Always On

Language in an Online and Mobile World

Naomi S. Baron

Description

In Always On, Naomi S. Baron reveals that online and mobile technologies--including instant messaging, cell phones, multitasking, Facebook, blogs, and wikis--are profoundly influencing how we read and write, speak and listen, but not in the ways we might suppose.

Baron draws on a decade of research to provide an eye-opening look at language in an online and mobile world. She reveals for instance that email, IM, and text messaging have had surprisingly little impact on student writing. Electronic media has magnified the laid-back "whatever" attitude toward formal writing that young people everywhere have embraced, but it is not a cause of it. A more troubling trend, according to Baron, is the myriad ways in which we block incoming IMs, camouflage ourselves on Facebook, and use ring tones or caller ID to screen incoming calls on our mobile phones. Our ability to decide who to talk to, she argues, is likely to be among the most lasting influences that information technology has upon the ways we communicate with one another. Moreover, as more and more people are "always on" one technology or another--whether communicating, working, or just surfing the web or playing games--we have to ask what kind of people do we become, as individuals and as family members or friends, if the relationships we form must increasingly compete for our attention with digital media?

Our 300-year-old written culture is on the verge of redefinition, Baron notes. It's up to us to determine how and when we use language technologies, and to weigh the personal and social benefits--and costs--of being "always on." This engaging and lucidly-crafted book gives us the tools for taking on these challenges.

Always On

Language in an Online and Mobile World

Naomi S. Baron

Author Information

Naomi S. Baron is Professor of Linguistics at American University in Washington, DC. A leading authority on language use in the age of the computer, she has studied instant messaging, text messaging, mobile phone practices, multitasking behavior, and Facebook usage by American college students. She is the author of six books, including Alphabet to Email: How Written English Evolved and Where It's Heading, and she has been interviewed on "Good Morning America," "20/20," Fox 5, CNN, Fresh Air, All Things Considered, Morning Edition, The New York Times, Wired Magazine, Boston Globe, Washington Post, and more.

Always On

Language in an Online and Mobile World

Naomi S. Baron

Reviews and Awards

Joint Winner of the 2008 Duke of Edinburgh ESU English Language Book Award

If you have one book to give to a lover of the lingo, latch on to "Always On, Language in an Online and Mobile World" --William Safire, New York Times

"My choice for most influential and seminal language book of the year is Always On: Language in an Online and Mobile World, by Naomi S. Baron. She is a scholar who can write in real time with real words." --William Safire, New York Times

"Naomi Baron artfully combines historical surveys, research summaries, and findings of her own to give us a comprehensive, insightful, and thoughtful handbook for understanding electronic communication-what it is, how it works, and how it's changing our lives and our interpersonal relationships." --Deborah Tannen, Georgetown University, author of You Just Don't Understand and You're Wearing That? Understanding Mothers and Daughters in Conversation

"This book, written by a leading researcher and commentator on online language, is an informative and readable tour of linguistic issues raised by contemporary electronic communication media such as IM, mobile phones, and blogs. The author skillfully weaves together cutting-edge technology topics with historical vignettes, and scholarship with provocative views. Naomi Baron is not afraid to take a stance on hot-button issues, be it the effects of the Internet on language change, whether writing done in electronic media is debasing standards for the written word, or whether we are changing fundamentally as social and thinking beings as a result of being constantly connected through technology. Regardless of the readers' views on these issues, this book is sure to stimulate reflection and generate discussion in both classrooms and academic circles." --Susan C. Herring, Indiana University

"Naomi Baron's wonderful book points out the many unique and fascinating aspects of what we now take for granted: the emerging languages of the Internet and cell phone. She skillfully explains how these new technologies are transforming the ways in which we communicate, along with how we relate to each other in everyday life." --Barry Wellman, University of Toronto

"In Always On Naomi Baron analyzes the ebb and flow of language as it confronts ever-new forms of technology. She is on the forefront of examining how computers and mobile devices interact with language, and how together they form the lens through which we see the world. Baron helped us understand the effect of email on language in her prize-winning book Alphabet to Email. Now she uses the same keen insight and crackling good prose to examine instant messaging, mobile based text messages, online social networking, and the effects electronically-mediated communication is having upon our language and upon ourselves." --Rich Ling, Senior Research Scientist, Telenor R&D