David Crystal Quotes

The main effect of the Internet on language has been to increase the expressive richness of language, providing the language with a new set of communicative dimensions that haven't existed in the past.

The amount of writing that people do online is astonishing, and historically unprecedented.

Vast volumes of mixed media surround us, from music to games and videos. Yet almost all of our online actions still begin and end with writing: text messages, status updates, typed search queries, comments and responses, screens packed with verbal exchanges and, underpinning it all, countless billions of words.

I had never considered using a hashtag anywhere other than on Twitter, but now I'm inspired. Text messages have always seemed a little flat to me, so the murmuring Greek chorus of a hashtag might be a perfect way to liven them up and give them a bit of dimension.

There are so many emoticons these days, I'm kind of old fashioned.

The world cannot live on 140 characters alone.

The Internet has compromised the quality of debate.

I learned that every conversation shouldn't be had via social media.

My debut book is a collection of personal stories and advice about communication on the Internet. More specifically, the downfall of communication because of the Internet.

Comments are my main way to communicate with you bros.

On the Internet, everyone is writing. There is a great flowering of writing.

I am no technophobe. I like being able to calibrate communication, depending on the situation - texting for the simple and immediate; email for business or when I want to put some lag time into the exchange; Twitter to promote something; Facebook to draw a crowd.

I think Twitter is best when it sparks conversations elsewhere. To use YouTube and Facebook and all the tools we have available to us today to respond and also promote and answer and engage is awesome.

You're talking about a younger generation, Generation Y, whose interpersonal communication skills are different from Generation X. The younger generation is more comfortable saying something through a digital mechanism than even face to face.

In America, everyone writes but no one reads. Everyone's writing all day long - sending emails, tweets, text messages; they all think they're James Cameron's Avatar, performing in some video game for which they make up the script.

Now, admittedly, Twitter can be entertaining on occasion, as it turns out that 140 characters offers a great chance to be misunderstood - and an even greater chance one will expose his inner troglodyte.

You know, kids text a lot today. It's phenomenal.

Down on the ground, we seem to do anything but make lengthy, robust monologues. We can communicate in an instant almost anywhere. Gone is the slow old letter - itself a monologue, a sort of considered performance of best self - and in its place is the e-mail, the text, the SMS, the tweet.

The Internet has changed everything. We expect to know everything instantly. If you don't understand digital communication, you're at a disadvantage.

Twitter was like a poem. It was rich, real and spontaneous. It really fit my style. In a year and a half, I tweeted 60,000 tweets, over 100,000 words. I spent a minimum eight hours a day on it, sometimes 24 hours.

Computers and the Internet have made it really easy to rant. It's made everyone overly opinionated.

Writing" is the Latin of our times. The modern language of the people is video and sound.

Sure, the Internet is the future, but what we do on the Internet is still very primal. It's all about connecting to other people, sharing emotion. It's our new feathers or face paint. It's all very raw.

There's just a proliferation of blogs and the chattering classes and people talking. More avenues for people to make their feelings known, which is good.

The digital native doesn't send a letter to the editor anymore. She goes online and starts a blog.