ptd

So, I was stuck in that horribly boring computer class of mine today, and, not surprisingly, I was bored. The primary reason being that watching kids read PowerPoint slides in the least exciting monotone possible while hoping to prevent anyone from thinking that they’re fragile enough to care about their grades isn’t entirely fun. As such, I started clicking around the internet, completely disregarding the earlier commands of my professor, which is tragically about the most anti-authoritarian thing I’ve done in a long while.

Anyway, I had one of my first experiences with online gaming with a fellow diarist the other night, so I stumbled over to games.com and figured I’d pass the time playing a few. Little did I know that the entire website is a miniature cult.

You see, there’s a little chat room to be used for friendly banter while playing the games or waiting in the “lobby,” and I found myself annoyingly enticed into chatting around. Only I couldn’t understand what anyone was saying. Yes, it’s true, it seems they’ve created a new language. And nothing is longer than 3 letters.

Really, the internet abbreviation obsession interests me, just because the excuse is convenience, but it really isn’t convenient. Primarily because no one who isn’t a computer obsessed geek will have any idea what you’re saying, and there’s no way it takes that much longer to actually type a word out coherently. Yes, yes, I know some people type slow, but anyone who’s bothered to learn all the abbreviations doesn’t, because they’re all online obsesses, anyway.

So, basically, I’ve concluded it all serves as some sort of alternate society. Anyone who wants to join has to learn the particular language or they’ll never be properly accepted into the group. Typing the various internet abbreviations is the equivalent of adhering to any other societal norm.

<span styl

e=”FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family: ‘Times New Roman’; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: ‘Times New Roman'”>So the next time you type brb, remember, you’re just a weak person caving into the societal pressures around you.

And that’s my lesson for the day.