Using abbreviations

Using abbreviations can be an obstacle to understanding a sentence. It is faster to write it, yet it can take more time to read than normal English. This is because people can interpret it differently. For example, ‘lol’ has many meanings; it means ‘laughing out loud’, ‘lots of love’, or ‘little old lady’ depending on the context in which it is used. If people do not care about the context while texting, they can misunderstand the text message. Also, some people get panic when they receive a text message with a full of abbreviations. It seems to be written in foreign language. Some abbreviations are even difficult to guess the original meaning such as ‘nvm’ instead of ‘never mind’, ‘idk’ instead of ‘I don’t know’, and ‘btw’ instead of ‘by the way.’ If people asked the meaning of abbreviation to a friend who sent it, they could feel shame as they feel like they are behind the times. Therefore, using abbreviations brings about more difficulties to understanding the meaning of sentence.