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Is society being brainwashed by the simplicity of Twitter? 

As 50 percent of 100 million users log into Twitter every day, are we heading towards a society obsessed with pointless updates and virtual popularity?


Twitter's highly recognizable logo. Photo: Google Images.

Bethany Jefferies
theguardian.com, Monday 14th October 2013

140-character updates about your choice of breakfast cereal to your "followers" seems to be a norm to 100 million active Twitter users across the world. With millions having their own personal accounts, it's no wonder it's worth roughly £7.3 billion. There are many reasons people feel the need to tweet obsessively. These reasons can range from anything such as seeking celebrity acknowledgment to complaining about the weather which surprisingly not, can drive some people crazy. Thankfully you can choose who you follow and you are not forced to follow back anyone who follows you.

Twitter has become one of the leading social networking sites over the years and it's found it's way onto pretty much every website someway or another by allowing you to share whatever you are viewing on one page directly to your twitter account in one simple click. This begs the question: Is Twitter becoming a little bit too involved in our lives?  

Monologue Homework

LAURA: He didn't leave me, I promise. He still cares; I can assure you of that. I can tell he regrets his decision to abandon me by the way he never calls or writes... He's too embarrassed you see. Do you really think I'd be as happy as I am right now if he purposely left me? I've never been happier. He just left me because he felt sorry for her. She doesn't truly have his heart. He still loves me, and someday he'll travel all those miles back here to be with me. I bet it will be only a matter of months before we are reunited and he will regret ever leaving me in the first place. I could tell he didn't want to go and the only reason he left without a goodbye was because it would be too hurtful for him. I don't have any doubts - I mean, why should I? You may be convinced he's gone for good and that he wants to be with her, but you don't know him like I do. He'd said to me how close we were and how he'd always be by my side and I know he wouldn't lie to me. He doesn't have that with her. His smiles may seem real to everyone but I see straight through them. He can't be happy with anyone else. (Raises voice) He made promises to me! He made me feel secure and as if I was the only one he would ever love. (Pauses) He's coming back for me. I know he misses me. Wherever he is right now I have no doubt I'm on his mind. I know he's not the kind of person to just run off with someone else. He was always far too busy working overtime most days to be considering running away with someone else. You best believe me when I tell you how much he cared about me. He would always apologize for being late home and not having enough energy to stay awake and spend our evenings together.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXGUNvIFTQw


Lord of The Rings, Return of the King: Aragorn's monologue at The Black Gate:

This extract from the film is from a scene before 'The Battle of the Black Gate' and Aragorn is addressing
the warriors before battle in an attempt to raise their spirits and boost their confidence to win.

Aragorn: Sons of Gondor! Of Rohan! My brothers. I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. A day may come when the courage of Men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day. An hour of wolves and shattered shields when the Age of Men comes crashing down, but it is not this day! This day we fight! By all that you hold dear on this good earth, I bid you stand, Men of the West!

The author of the book J.R.R Tolkien uses some form of alliteration in his writing. For example, "Break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day" repeats the use of the letter 'b' which makes the sentence flow and entices the reader. His use of alliteration creates the effect of onomatopoeia which makes us imagine a violent scene as we picture people being broken down in scenes of war. The author uses repetition of the words "This day" 3 times in this monologue to create a powerful effect on the reader and to make Aragorn come across as a character of strength and knowledge. I noticed J.R.R Tolkien's word choice when he writes "An hour of wolves and shattered shields" I believe he is making Aragorn refer to the warriors as 'wolves' so they come across as fast and terrifying yet he changes the mood of the sentence as he says 'shattered shields' which makes us think of damage being dealt towards the warriors because of the word shattered which describes something to be broken.

Homework Task

Lyrics from "I Know You Care" By Ellie Goulding. 

"Clinging to me, Like a last breath you would breathe. You were like home to me. I don't recognize this street. Please don't close your eyes, don't know where to look without them. Outside the cars speed by, I never heard them until now. I know you care, I know it has always been there. But there's trouble ahead, I can feel it, you're just saving yourself when you hide it. Yeah i know you care. I see it in the way that you stare. As if there was trouble ahead and you knew it, I'll be saving myself from the ruin... I used to run down the stairs, to the door and I thought you were there, to shape to the comfort of us, two lovers loved out of love."

I feel like these song lyrics play with language by creating an emotional connection with the listener. I think Ellie Goulding does this by making us imagine the aftermath of a failed romantic relationship as she uses short, emotive sentences in her lyrics. Her use of repetition with the words "I know" make us imagine her creating this self belief that the relationship can be fixed and creates a overall mood of desperation and love. I think the lyrics are written in second person as she uses no names or any reference to anyone else except for saying 'you' to help us establish there is someone else connected with this song.

Armstrong and Miller RAF pilots 'D-Day'

The writer of this comedy scene has set the scene on D-Day which was a day of great importance in the war. They have made two characters seem completely different to the typical soldier by not only the way they are dressed, but how they talk. The characters are using slang words to shorten their sentences and using words that would not have been used in this certain period of time. The way the characters describe the war conflict they are supposed to be taking part in as a holiday and the viewer of this clip can tell they aren't taking it seriously by the way Armstrong says "I don't think I'll bother, it's really crowded" and Miller replies saying "Yeah man, it's rammed." The dialect being used by the characters tells us that they are conversing like teenagers from the post modern era when they are living in a time much before that. The writer has also made the characters politically incorrect as they begin to speak about diversity as they seem to take the officers comment about camouflage as a racist comment when back then there wasn't much diversity so being racist wasn't seen as an issue.

The way this script is presented to us shows a colloquial register as there is slang and nicknames being used in the text. There may be certain words used in the video that may be offensive to some viewers such as the use of the word "Gaylord" which is known as a use of taboo language which shows how the writer was playing with language and sociolect. The sociolect we recognize is men who have a polite and well spoken accents talking in the same way a teenager would now a days. 

Homework task:

An extract from Great Expectations by Charles Dickens:

"There was such a malignant enjoyment in her utterance of the last words, and she broke into such a disagreeable laugh, that I was at a loss what to say. She spared me the trouble of considering, by dismissing me. When the gate was closed upon me by Sarah of the walnut-shell countenance, I felt more than ever dissatisfied with my home and with my trade and with everything; and that was all I took by that motion. As I was loitering through the high street, looking in disconsolately at the shop windows, and thinking what I would buy if I were a gentleman, who should come out of the bookshop but Mr. Wopsle."


Changing this extract into informal register:

It was clear there was a hateful pleasure when she spoke, as she burst into fits of laughter, I was speechless. She stopped me from thinking by rudely blanking me. When Sarah closed the gate behind me, I felt ashamed and unhappy with my home, my job and with everything; and that's all I felt. I walked through the high street, looking hopelessly sad as I looked through the shop windows, and thinking what I would buy if I was a gentleman. I noticed Mr. Wopsle coming out of the bookshop.

Homework task:

How to identify a 'Beth':

Usually you'll find this species sat eating her normal preferred diet of chicken burgers and chips and trying to socialize with her friends on a patch of grass or concrete steps at her college. Beth's are slow creatures with big appetites and this specific type of species loves to write, play the ukulele and drink coffee on cold days. Sometimes you'll see a Beth standing alone on her phone pretending to be doing something. This isn't unusual behavior for a Beth, they actually react like this when they're scared or nervous or trying to look busy when they're alone. Beth's love simple things like spending time with other creatures, writing, shopping and nature itself. Beth's get on with different animals especially cats but they have a strange phobia of spiders. When in the presence of a spider, Beth's are well known to let out a cry and panic.

“Well, there’s a very insightful making of, where you get to see, well, how we made it.  The director and myself have recorded a commentary, there’s an alternative ending, bloopers, there’s plenty of them! This is actually better than the one at the cinema though. “ 

I chose this extract from the text because I find that it is informative and straight to the point. I feel that this extract has not been refined or perfected which makes us feel that we understand the speaker. The use of an explanation mark gave me the impression that the speaker was enthusiastic when he spoke and the use of commas makes us imagine a natural flow of speech. I think it was written in this way to show how passionate the speaker is about his movie and introducing new features to it. I like the way the speaker has chosen not to go into much detail about these new features as it makes the audience want to find out what they are. My favourite line in this extract is ‘there’s plenty of them!’ as it livens up the mood and makes the reader interested to find out what the speaker is on about.