Which Internet Person Are You?

Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language by Gretchen McCulloch
Riverhead Books, July 23, 2019

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In her new book, Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language, linguist Gretchen McCulloch good-humoredly explores the changing landscape, cadence, and tone of informal writing in the digital age. Refreshingly, McCulloch does not bemoan these changes but instead celebrates them, reminding readers of the good (and inevitability) that lies in evolving linguistic practices. Specifically, she sees the increase in informal, written communication today as a net positive: "The internet [has] brought us an explosion of writing by normal people. Writing has become a vital, conversational part of our ordinary lives... We write all the time now, and most of what we're writing is informal." Exploring questions like "how do new words catch on?" and "when did people start saying this?" and "where do people say that?", McCulloch engages educators in a deep-dive into some of the more disruptive hallmarks of digital writing including the use of lower-case letters, ironic punctuation, acronyms, abbreviations, gifs, emojis, and memes. In eight fast-paced, example-packed chapters, McCulloch highlights many fascinating characteristics of the geography we "internet people" inhabit, along with our languages and cultures. Educators may especially appreciate McCulloch's analysis of the population she calls "Post Internet People" – aka today's students – that explains how they manage and harness the social tools they have been given. Because Internet is a readable must-read for teachers, many of whom are likely what McCulloch calls "Semi Internet People" – those who use technology sparingly and hold on to "vivid memories of what it was like to maintain relationships via letters and phone calls."