Author | Talk Jun
A word "yyds" can replace all praise, and a word "Juejuezi" can cover all feelings. We are losing the ability of complex expression and the desire to think deeply …
Hello, I’m talk Jun.
"Do you know what’ YYDS’ means?"
"Is the eternal god, who doesn’t know now? How convenient it is to use yyds for everything! "
When our discourse system is simplified to a few abbreviations and network stalks, we lose not only the richness of language, but also the depth and breadth of thinking.
Language is simplified, and thinking is also simplified.
If you carefully observe the current network communication, you will find that simple expressions such as "yyds" (eternal god), "xswl" (laughing me to death) and "Juejuezi" are replacing rich Chinese vocabulary.
A word "yyds" can replace all these words: wonderful, excellent, outstanding and shocking.
This simplification trend is not only reflected in the language, but also penetrated into the thinking mode.
When we use "Juejuezi" to sum up all our feelings, we no longer need to think about "where is this thing good", "why is it good" and "what feelings it brings to me".
The thinking process is compressed into a conditioned reflex.
The popularity of this expression is essentially a manifestation of "inertia of thinking". Young people are increasingly reluctant to engage in complex thinking that requires cognitive resources, and prefer simple, direct and unexplained communication.
Abstract Culture: Gentle Psychic Anesthetic
Abstract culture originated from the network subculture. At first, it was a gentle rebellion of young people against the mainstream cultural order, and the discipline was deconstructed by joking.
But now, it has evolved into a widespread cultural phenomenon.
In 2024, "abstraction" became a buzzword for young people to socialize online. They show the so-called "real and vivid self" through relaxed and funny content and unique and even "wonderful" interpretation perspective.
Different from the traditional criticism of "entertainment to death", some people think that abstract culture provides young people with an "outlet of spiritual resistance" to help them overcome routine, seriousness and even difficulties in life with self-mockery and unexpected humor.
But this "resistance" is actually a kind of abandonment. When we respond to everything with "hahaha" and "laughing to death", we are actually avoiding deep thinking about the nature of things.
Circle illusion: we are all "one of our own"
The most ingenious thing about abstract culture is that it creates an illusion of circle identity.
When you know how to use those network stems and specific expressions, you seem to have joined a secret club. Only those who know these stems can feel the happiness of being understood in the same circle. It becomes a circle identification mechanism.
Those who don’t understand these stalks are naturally excluded from the dialogue.
This layered communication creates the so-called "social code", which breaks the apathy of interpersonal relationship with symbolic interaction and promotes in-depth communication.
But this "deep communication" is actually extremely superficial. When we all use the same words and expressions, we are just repeating mechanically, and we don’t really share our unique thoughts and feelings.
Arithmetic cocoon house
Algorithm of how to kill thinking ability by traffic supremacy
The popularity of this abstract culture is not accidental, but the result of collusion with the content ecology of traffic supremacy.
Algorithm recommendation technology has been deeply integrated into various fields and scenarios. It accurately provides various services by capturing users’ daily usage data and analyzing users’ behaviors, habits and preferences.
But this technology is a "double-edged sword". The algorithm recommends that users’ preferences should be the guide, and a large number of similar content should be pushed continuously, which isolates users in a closed information space and hinders the flow of diverse information.
At the same time, the time spent reading books, newspapers and other traditional books has been greatly reduced, which directly leads to insufficient knowledge reserves and difficulty in expanding vocabulary.
When they need to express complex views and emotions, they often find themselves lacking the ability to organize and have in-depth language.
Network language is concise, vivid and interesting, and expression packs are widely used in social activities. However, long-term dependence on these expression tools will make young people’s communication single and modular, and weaken their ability to accurately express their thoughts and feelings in standardized language.
What are we losing?
When we are immersed in this simple and exciting content, we are losing some valuable abilities.
We have lost the ability to concentrate on deep reading. Fragmented reading requires interesting and concise text content, and videos and pictures are important weapons to attract readers.
Network segments only spread eye-catching superficial and easy-to-understand entertainment content, and rarely provide detailed data and facts.
We have lost the ability to think complex. When we are used to summarizing complex phenomena with simple labels, we no longer need to analyze multiple dimensions of problems and understand the complexity of things.
Most importantly, we have lost the ability to express ourselves truly. When we all use the same network expression, our personality is actually erased.
We thought we were showing ourselves, but in fact we were just repeating the collective discourse.
Neil Pozmann warned in "Entertainment to Death":
"Our politics, religion, news, sports and business are all willing to be vassals of entertainment, without complaint or even silence. As a result, we have become a species of entertainment to death."
Behind the "abstract" carnival is our escape from the complexity of life. When we use "Juejuezi" to sum up all the beauty and "emo" to refer to all the sadness, we lose the ability to experience those subtle and real emotions.
Language is not only a tool for communication, but also a framework for thinking. When we simplify language, we also simplify our thinking and our understanding of this complex world.
When we feel a sense of belonging to the same set of slang, we are actually giving up the truly unique thinking-that is our most precious thing.
What do you think of this? Welcome to leave a message in the comment area to discuss ~
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Original title: "We are using" abstraction "and" stalk "to quietly abolish the brains of young people"
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