Abstract

ALONSO, Elena  and  PEREA, Manuel. SMS: Social and cognitive impact. Escritos de Psicología [online]. 2008, vol.2, n.1, pp.24-31. ISSN 1989-3809.

The growing use of mobile text messages (hereinafter SMS) has given place to a debate on the social impact and the psychological effects of this new mass media. In the recent years the massive use of mobiles and Internet has generated a new way of communication based on the abbreviated use of language. In this work we examine the role of SMS as an effective tool of communication in the way of establishing social relationships among young individuals. Furthermore we examine the reading cognitive cost of SMS; and derived from this analysis and the content of the SMS sentences we extract two conclusions. The first one is that SMS language is economical enough to transfer relevant information using the abbreviated language even though it implies a reading cost, the second conclusion is that SMS language implies a socio-cultural aspect worthy to be reflected on.

Keywords : Linguistics; reading; eye movements; phonology; SMS language.

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