CHAPTER ONE
1.1 INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
Modern technologies, particularly, the new media, with their electronic messaging capabilities are changing virtually all aspects of human life around the globe. Advances in science and technology in the last decade – particularly micro-chip dependent technology such as computers, lasers, the internet, satellite, videophones etc. have helped in advancing the frontiers of globalization from which Nigeria is not isolated. The impact of these new emerging technologies is felt even in developing countries which are grappling with serious language problems as a result of socio-cultural and linguistic diversities. This new mode of communication appears to have captured a large clientele of the youths who adapt more easily to change. The youths of today live in a world characterized by the dynamics of electronic messaging which affects their communication mode as well as their writing and which also make their life more complex.
The complex situation in which the young people are struggling to find direction in their lives or simply to survive and improve their living conditions and develop and improve their identity has been given various names. Some call it the information age, while others prefer the term techno-culture or techcapitalism, global media culture or simply globalization, referring to the dialectic process in which the global and the local exist as ‘combined and mutual supporting principles’. The idea behind all these terms is that across the globe, ICTs are playing a vital role on young people’s lives and in the society at large.
Electronic messaging therefore came as a result of social needs which are anchored on easy and fast communication. It is perhaps the most consummate among the youths because of the common form of interaction it provides. They have learned to coordinate and indeed co-micro interaction via the mobile phone and internet. Electronic Mail, a new written-language register; In a study of with French speaking adolescents; Olga et al observed that “Adolescents seem to have largely appropriated these new communication tools, including electronic mail ‘Teens and technology’, a survey conducted by the New Internet and American Life Project on 1100 young people, “electronic mail ranked on top and was used by 89% of online teens”(2).This interprets that electronic messaging gives the youths a source of interaction that is not mediated by parents as in the case with the traditional landline telephone. The Nigerian youths as part of the global community have contributed to popularizing the social use of texting and have developed a linguistic and manual dexterity in the composition of messages.