Running head: NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON LANGUAGE 1

The Negative Effects of Social Media on the Language of Teenagers in Kuwait

Ali K. Al-Ali

Department of English Language and Literature, Kuwait University

Senior Res. Proj. (Linguis. Concentration) 403

Dr Munirah A. Al Ajlan
NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON LANGUAGE 2

Table of Contents

Abstract.......................................................................................................................................................3
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................4
Literature Review........................................................................................................................................5
The Use of Offensive Language in the Media.........................................................................................5
Solutions to Protect Adolescents from Online Offensive Language........................................................7
Types and Classifications of Swear Words..............................................................................................8
Methodology and Data Collection.............................................................................................................10
Data, Procedures, and Participants.........................................................................................................10
Challenges in the Data Collection..........................................................................................................13
Results and Discussion..............................................................................................................................13
Parents and Age Groups of Teenagers...................................................................................................14
The Highest Use of Swear Words on Social Media...............................................................................15
The Effect of Social Media on the Morals of Teenagers........................................................................16
Using Swear Words on Social Media Compared to Real Life...............................................................17
Consequences of Online Language Abuse and Possible Solutions........................................................18
Main Source of Swear Words and Banning Decisions..........................................................................19
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................21
References.................................................................................................................................................23
NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON LANGUAGE 3

Abstract

This study sheds light on the importance of identifying the negative effects that social media

might cause on the language of teenagers in Kuwait. The fundamental questions that the study

focused on were the reasons that could make teenagers use offensive language on social media,

in addition to the decisions that authorities can follow to combat this issue. A number of prior

studies aimed to classify the different types of swear words, offered linguistic solutions to limit

the use of offensive language on social media, and investigated the effects of swear words from a

social and cultural perspective. The methods of this study were relied on creating a survey and

observational note taking, and the data was analyzed based on the thematic analysis. The results

showed that parents chose YouTube as the social media platform that includes the highest use of

swear words by teenagers. The results also showed that the social media helps in ruining the

morals of teenagers, and that social media platforms should have a responsibility of banning all

kinds of offensive language. The study suggests that authorities can relying developed language

filtering systems to protect teenagers from getting exposed to abusive language content.

Keywords: social media, offensive language, swear words, euphemism, teenagers,

sociolinguistics, semantics, discourse analysis

1. Introduction

As social media continues to play a vigorous role in influencing people since the day that

it arrived on the scene, taboo language is starting to spread online which means that the use of

words that are seen as inappropriate is rising (Nordquist, 2020). Due to the misuse of social

media, social norms are broken, taboo words are becoming common, and young people are

exposed to bad content (Raras & Sudarwati, 2021). Swearing, a negative use of language, can be

verbal or typed online by using words or phrases that are considered as obscene, offensive, and

vulgar (Nordquist, 2020).

One of the most negative aspects that helps in spreading offensive language on social

media is the advantage that allows abusers to stay anonymous without receiving serious

consequences (Oswal, 2021). From this point on, it is extremely important for social media

platforms to eliminate or at least limit the use of offensive language online through training their

respective systems to recognize and delete such content (Zampieri, Malmasi, Nakov, Rosenthal,

Farra & Kumar, 2019). Some social media platforms such as YouTube and Facebook have

started on the path of taking strong actions against bad content (Oswal, 2021). On the contrary, a

case study about Cambridge Analytica by Kanakia, Shenoy & Shah (2019) sheds light on the

involvement of Facebook in one of the largest data scandals.

Linguistically speaking, the attempt to be less impolite by using a linguistic concept that

allows language users to manipulate swear words is called “euphemism” (Nordquist, 2020). The

fact that euphemism plays with words but maintains the same meaning allowed it to be “the

language of evasion, hypocrisy, prudery, and deceit” (Holder, 2008) (cited in Nordquist, 2020).

Swearing or cursing is not necessarily taught because people can still learn it on daily basis from
NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON LANGUAGE 5

society, in addition to its presence on the radio, social media, and music (Cholidah, 2017).

Therefore, swearing in mass media has started to become less shocking and close to being a

normalized modern norm (Peterson, 2000) (cited in Amin & Salehhuddin Sharipudin, 2021).

This issue that requires analysis and solutions leads to the heart of this research which is

teenagers who are active social media users. The following are the two questions that this paper

aims to answer:

1- Why do teenagers in Kuwait use offensive language on social media?

2- How can authorities protect teenagers from getting exposed to offensive language

content on social media?

2. Literature Review

2.1 The Use of Offensive Language in the Media

In their study, Amin & Salehhuddin Sharipudin (2021) investigate the linguistic

preferences and reasons that motivate young people to use profanity on social media. To

examine this issue, the targeted community was chosen to be students aged between 18-23 years

old at Universiti Teknologi MARA, Cawangan Pulau Pinang (UiTMCPP). Mainly, the questions

of the study were meant to keep track of the tendencies, causes, and effects that would lead these

students to resort to using English swear words on social media platforms. The method that was

used included collecting demographic information and using a questionnaire. Darwish & Ain

(2020) discuss the controversial use of forbidden words in a Jordanian series on Netflix called

“Jinn” and how the Jordanian society is a conservative society and thus condemned such content.

From a critical standpoint, the ideas of Darwish & Ain (2020) and Amin & Salehhuddin

(2021) are quite different because the former particularly had student participants who judged the
NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON LANGUAGE 6

behavior and tendency of their counterparts regarding using profanity online, while the focus of

Darwish & Ain (2020) can be highly seen as pure cultural and moral study of the language that

was used in the Jordanian series from the first episode till the end. In fact, both researchers

happen to target taboo words and their negative use in the media. Darwish & Ain (2020) are

targeting interactive media, while Amin & Salehhuddin Sharipudin (2021) are concerned with

the online visual media and its negative affect on society. According to Amin & Salehhuddin

Sharipudin (2021), 39% of respondents agree that students who use English swear words on

social media do that to look cool and awesome, however Darwish & Ain (2020) stated that 55%

of the first episode of the series contained taboo words and decreased gradually to 13% by the

last episode. Hence, this shows that taboo words are used in both cases to grab the attention of

people because such words are abnormal and can cause both tension and curiosity. Darwish &

Ain noticed that 47% of the respondents agree that students use animal names to curse on social

media. On the other hand, Amin & Salehhuddin Sharipudin (2021) claim that the theme of

animals drew only 9% of the taboo words that were used during the first episode of Jinn. This

can give a clue that taboo words that involve animal names are more frequent on interactive

media platforms compared to visual media.

Darwish & Ain (2020) claim that 37% of the series witnessed sexual activity, sex organ,

and prostitution. In contrast, according to Amin & Salehhuddin Sharipudin (2021), a significant

percentage of 60% disagree that students curse by using sexual positions, such as “doggy”.

Critically speaking, the claim of Darwish & Ain (2020) seems to be more accurate compared to

the former considering that some taboo words are categorized as “dirty” in relation to sex, such

as “bugger” and “s**t” (Norquist, 2020). Moreover, Raras & Sudarwati (2021) add on the issue

of using taboo words on TikTok which supports that sexuality is the second most common type
NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON LANGUAGE 7

of taboo words. Based on the contents and comments that are used on the platform, the use of

sexual words accounted 18%.

2.2 Solutions to Protect Adolescents from Online Offensive Language

Chen, Zhou, Zhu & Xu (2012) draw attention towards protecting adolescents from any

exposure to inappropriate language and to find effective ways to detect offensive language on

social media to ensure online safety. Even if adolescents are benefiting from using social media

platforms, they are still at risk of encountering offensive contents. It is important to mention that

the “Global Threat Report” has reported that “80% of blogs have offensive content and 74 % of

adult content” (Chen, Zhou, Zhu & Xu, 2012, p. 71). From a critical point of view, high

percentages of 80% and 74% are seriously nerve-racking numbers when it comes to using

offensive and adult content online because adolescents are active users of social media content.

Thus, knowing that such content is available online calls for effective solutions to improve

online detection of offensive language. Furthermore, researchers have studied intelligent

methods and ways to identify offensive contents and use text mining techniques to analyze

online data. Among all the ways that Chen, Zhou, Zhu & Xu (2012) touched on, the Lexical

Syntactic Feature (LSF) seems to have the highest effectiveness and can adapt to any type of

formats of English writing styles, and it is believed that this language processing model can help

in controlling the use of offensive language on the internet which will build a positive

environment for the adolescents according to Chen, Zhou, Zhu & Xu (2012).

Critically speaking, relying on this feature can be a smart move because it combines the

use of the lexicon and syntax to check inappropriate words and follow the patterns of such

words. As previously mentioned in the study, it can ensure that the offensive entities are
NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON LANGUAGE 8

successfully detected, but it may turn to be a limited solution in the long run considering that it

may also not work with other languages besides English.

According to Bowers (2011), euphemism can be a way to learn another way of avoiding

most offensive words that can feel unpleasant and disrespectful aspect while using language.

Bowers (2011) argues that euphemism is more affective verbally, however it is still essential to

understand the idea of linguistic relativity which links speaking with think. Accordingly, this

concept plays a role in demonstrating that using offensive language is linked to the way we think

which strengthens on the importance of using euphemisms as a solution for the spread of taboo

words.

2.3 Types and Classifications of Swear Words

It is fundamental to discuss and criticize the claim of Cholidah (2017) with comparison to

what Husda (2021) mentioned in relation to swear words. The focus of Cholidah (2017) is on the

use of swear words among teenagers on social media and the reasons behind using these types of

words. According to Cholidah (2017), there are two types of swearing which are formal and

informal. The formal type includes the speaker making a promise for a future act, while the

informal includes new phrases or acts that can be added by changing “voice tone” to change the

“facial expression.” For example, the speaker has the power to influence the listener and give

commands to other people, especially those who are in a high-power class such as celebrities

who have the power to influence others. Therefore, this means that whoever has higher power

can use inappropriate words because there will be no effect on them. Moreover, the issue of

power can result in affecting powerless people such as teenagers who would resort to using

vulgar words to increase their credibility and reduce the gap with other people who possess high
NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON LANGUAGE 9

power. This study demonstrates that teenagers use negative words to show who is in control and

has the upper hand over others in a conversation. additionally, swearing can be a way to express

feelings, especially for teenagers when it comes to happiness or disappointment.

Husda (2021) concentrates on using taboo words in hate speech on social media

platforms in order to give them classification and describe their social functions. The method that

is used is a descriptive qualitative, and the data were collected through documents on social

media about hate speech. The analysis of data involved dividing taboo words in hate speech

through social media into types, such as epithets, profanity, obscenity, vulgarity, cursing, and

supernatural beings. Based on the data, epithets came in first place with a frequency of 36 and a

percentage of 30.7%. Epithets are usually used to insult others by negatively bringing up their

race, gender, ethnicity, sexuality, and appearance. The claim of Husda (2021) includes that some

of the social functions of taboo words are drawing attention to someone, provoking others, and

mocking authority. Similarly, Darwish (2020) states that a high use of inappropriate verbal and

non-verbal content was used in the Jordanian series “Jinn” which is in line with what Husda

(2021) claims. Realistically speaking, both of Darwish & Ain (2020) and Husda (2021) seem to

have a mutual understanding regarding the use of taboo words to grab the attention of others, but

it is always important to remember that “what you are is what you say” (Raras & Sudarwati,

2021, p. 321).

Both of Cholidah (2017) and Husda (2021) emphasize on an element that suggests the

damage that using taboo language on social media can cause on diverse levels. On the other

hand, it is not totally an issue of language because people are the ones abusing it leading to the

corruption of the morals of teenagers and hate speech. In other words, the act of swearing or

cursing should not be the only problem, as there must be other cultural and social factors that
NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON LANGUAGE 10

push for such behavior to spread on social media. An important classification of English swear

words is the idea that they are mostly related to sexual and filthy meanings mixed with religious

references, such as “goddamn” (Jay, 2009a) (cited in Amin & Salehhuddin Sharipudin, 2021).

3. Methodology and Data Collection

A well-designed research survey can be an immensely helpful and effective method in

the process of collecting data for any academic research (Ruel et al., 2016). It basically involves

the action of collecting information whether electronically or on paper from respondents (Blair et

al., 2014). Furthermore, surveys give researchers the opportunity to have people partake in the

research by answering questions on a particular case. However, surveys can never be done by

force, as it is totally the decision of respondents to participate (Cohen et al, 2007).

Although surveys may not be to some extent the perfect way to obtain answers, it is still

considered as a versatile way of collecting the richest data because they effectively provide

useful information with less resources (Ruel et al., 2016). Similarly, it is important to point out

that a survey is a tool that would appear to be small and simple, but it can successfully measure

attitudes and opinions of participants (Ruel et al., 2016). In other words, information about

certain behaviors, ideas, and preferences can be easily gathered through surveys (Weisberg et al,

1996) (cited in Cohen et al, 2007).

3.1 Data, Procedures, and Participants

The research objectives are meant to understand why teenagers use offensive language on

social media and the procedures that authorities can take to protect them. For this reason, I

wanted to establish a cause-and-effect relationship involving the negative use of social media
NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON LANGUAGE 11

and the language of teenagers. In this study, I used a qualitative research method to describe and

shed light on the effect of social media on the language of teenagers particularly in Kuwait. First,

I resorted to using Microsoft Forms to prepare the components of my survey and also relied on

observations that I found online to further support my study. The survey included ten different

statements that were answered by parents of teenagers. In addition, we added a non-mandatory

component in the end in the form of star rating scale to receive feedback on the experience of

respondents. I also used the Likert Scale in the making of six of the survey statements, in order to

give respondents more freedom to express how far they agree or disagree instead of just having

binary responses (Vinney, 2021).

The analysis of the data follows the criteria of the thematic analysis, which is a type of

the qualitative research method (Boyatzis,1998) (cited in Alhojailan, 2012). Using thematic

analysis is one of the best analytical methods to classify and interpret trends and patterns that are

related to the data (Boyatzis, 1998).

Considering that the process of choosing the contents of my survey was pivotal, I tried to

make them as clear as possible to suit the aim of the research and avoid any kind of confusion

that may occur on the part of respondents. To accomplish that, I used statements rather than

questions to ensure that the participants would understand, and answer based on their opinions.

As previously stated, my second research method relied on observations that I retrieved from

tweets on Twitter and comments on YouTube and Instagram. Since WhatsApp messages are

mostly private and cannot be easily observed, I took pictures of some offensive messages that

were shared on public chat groups that I was a member of.

The reason why I chose to do a survey over conducting interviews was of threefold. First,

I was aware that my research topic is multifaceted because not only does it touch on the social
NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON LANGUAGE 12

and lingual status of teenagers but social media as well. As a result, receiving many responses

with less time and effort was on top of my priorities to allow respondents to answer privately and

without pressure. On the contrary, interviews would require consent from participants, and some

people tend to reject the idea of being interviewed or voice recorded. Second, I expected that

doing a survey would make it spread among people creating a more engaging social experience.

The survey itself was able to discuss an important social issue that might lead to dangerous

consequences in terms of language and society. Last but not least, choosing interviews would

need preparations before meeting with interviewees, while surveys are much more flexible and

open-ended (Bhandari, 2020).

It is fundamental to discuss the participants who partook in the survey that I did for this

study. When we finished structuring the survey, I was advised by my supervisor to send it

specifically to parents who have teenagers from the age of 12-15 and from 16-19. Hence, I chose

the participants to be parents whether fathers or mothers to give their honest opinions about this

situation that continues to affect teenagers till this day. Furthermore, I started sending links of

my survey to my friends and to parents I know who have teenage kids and live in Kuwait. It is

essential to point out that I do not know each and every single participant because the link was

spread from friend to friend and from parent to parent which means that the responses were

anonymous.

I wanted to make sure that those parents who were doing the survey would find the topic

easy to understand. So, respondents were given a variety of options, as I tried to follow a strategy

of being both objective and inclusive. Some of the respondents were people who I know on a

personal level, therefore I took the opportunity to ask them about their take regarding the survey.

The first comment came from one of our university faculty members who is a mother of a 14-
NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON LANGUAGE 13

year-old who praised the questions and wished me all the best of luck on our research. The

second comment came from a PHD holder who was interested in how well-put and simple my

survey was which made him spread the link among his work colleagues. Thus, I believe that the

overall reaction to the survey was incredibly satisfying, especially with the participation of

parents from different social backgrounds whether Kuwaitis or Non-Kuwaitis.

3.2 Challenges in the Data Collection

There were no significant challenges that I encountered during the process of collecting

data. The reason behind that was due to the flexibility and openness of the research methods I

used more or less (Bhandari, 2020). However, there were few minor issues that are worth

mentioning regarding the process of collecting the data. The first minor challenge was that I had

to edit the statements in the survey multiple times before finalizing and sending it. Primarily, I

wanted the entire survey to be understood easily by everyone who speaks English. The second

and last challenge lies in the difficulty of censoring and choosing offensive comments and

messages by teenagers on social media platforms as part of my observations. Because censoring

and finding such contents on social was difficult and time-consuming, we acknowledge it as one

of the minor limitations that I encountered.

4. Results and Discussion

Although language is a powerful tool in the process of communication and speech

production, but it can sometime be powerful in a negative way (Raras & Sudarwati, 2021). Using

offensive language can leave a devastating impression on those around us, and thus I should be

aware that some words can be used as fatal linguistic weapons (Allan & Burridge, 2006). Such
NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON LANGUAGE 14

abusive use of language could cause hate speech and create serious issues on diverse levels

(Schwarz-Friesel, 2015). The results of a research paper should explicitly mention the findings

and state them in a logical manner, in addition to illustrating them by using figures or tables

(Crossman, 2020). I relied on preparing a survey and writing down related observations to come

up with relevant findings to support our analysis.

In this chapter, the focus will be illustrating three core elements. First, presenting and

describing the results of the survey that was answered by the respondents. Second, pointing out

the trends and patterns that we noticed by observing online comments on multiple social media

platforms. Third, discussing and analyzing of the data in comparison with prior studies.

It is important to begin by presenting the results of the first research method which is the

survey that included ten pivotal statements. The goal of the survey was to have an understanding

about the opinions of parents regarding teenagers who use swear words on social media. The

results of the survey that follows the Likert Scale allowed me to provide a variety of options with

small differences, such as strongly agree and agree, and that made the process of stating and

discussing the results more accurate and concise (Vinney, 2020). I kept the survey available and

accessible for almost one month, and the total number of respondents was 59 people.

4.1 Parents and Age Groups of Teenagers

First, the opening of the survey identified that 56% of the respondents were fathers and

44% of them were mothers. it appears that there was a gap in the percentages of those who

participated; the fathers reached 56%, while the mothers reached 44% (see figure 1). Moreover,

this could be a factor that might affect the overall outcome of the research because opinions can

differ depending on gender because women and men could have different views regarding the
NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON LANGUAGE 15

upbringing and dealing with teenagers (Britannica, 2011). Furthermore, social expectations can

be one of the reasons that control how fathers or mothers might deal with their teenage kids

(Cole, 2021).

Second, the results revealed that 71% of the respondents have teenagers in the age range

of 12-15 years old, while only 29% of them have teenagers in the age range of 16-19 years old.

Analytically speaking, most of the respondents have teenagers who are aged between 12-15

years old. This shows that teenagers who belong to this age group occupied an important part of

the results (see figure 2). However, this part of the survey does not seem to provide any

significance to the outcome of the study.

4.2 The Highest Use of Swear Words on Social Media

Third, the responses about the social media platform with the highest use of swear words

were relatively close. Based on the results, the top three platforms were YouTube with 25%,

Twitter with 24%, and Instagram with 22%. Meanwhile, 15% of them chose WhatsApp and 14%

chose Snapchat (see figure 3).

The

survey
NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON LANGUAGE 16

highlights that there was a closeness in the opinions of the respondents regarding the social

media platform with the highest use of swear words. YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram were

respectively the choices of the respondents. Since YouTube is a platform that offers visual

content, it can be compared with the findings of Darwish & Ain (2020) that discussed the

Jordanian Netflix series “Jinn”. Darwish & Ain argue that there was a high use of abusive

language content that included taboo words and explicit sexual content. Similarly, my findings

can support this claim because respondents chose YouTube as the platform with highest use of

swear words, and it was followed respectively by Twitter and Instagram. According to the

observations, I noticed that Twitter is the platform where teenagers can say whatever they want,

however YouTube slightly topped it by 1% in the survey. Another point where the results of the

survey and my observations intersect is that WhatsApp and Snapchat have a lower tendency of

having an explicit offensive language content because the content on both platforms is not totally

public.

4.3 The Effect of Social Media on the Morals of Teenagers

Fourth, the idea that social media is responsible for ruining the morals of teenagers was a

fundamental statement in the survey, and the answers were structured based on the Likert Scale.

A high percentage of 81.4% agreed with the statement (response options: strongly agree, 47.5%

+ agree, 33.9%), 13.6% were neutral, and only 5.1% disagreed (see figure 4). The fact that the

majority of the respondents saw that social media is responsible for ruining the morals of

teenagers allows us to conclude that their eastern background could be constructing their

opinions. The results of figure 4 are in line with Darwish & Ain (2020) who discuss the issue of

using forbidden words in the Netflix series “Jinn” from a moral and critical standpoint. Amin &
NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON LANGUAGE 17

Salehhuddin (2021) agree with my findings in terms of the social factor that controls how

teenagers use swear words. In addition, teenagers are good followers of celebrities and social

media influencers who tend to use such words to reflect power and dominance. Therefore, the

morals of teenagers are highly affected by that, as they try to reach that level of power that

celebrities supposedly possess (Amin & Salehhuddin, 2021).

4.4 Using Swear Words on Social Media Compared to Real Life

Fifth, Parents were asked to give their thoughts on whether teenagers use swear words on

social media more than they do it in real life. The results illustrate that 69.5% agreed with the

statement (strongly agree, 33.9 + agree, 35.6%,), 20.3% chose neutral, and 10.2% disagreed

(disagree, 8.5% + strongly disagree, 1.7%) (see figure 5). Since parents are expected to be good

observers of the activities of their teenage kids, a high percentage of them agreed that teenagers

curse on social media more than they do it in real life. Thus, a pattern can be detected from their

responses which is that they do not think that social media is the right place for teenagers. The

results support the claim of Cholidah (2017) because teenagers find themselves more encouraged

and powerful to use profanity online compared to real life. According to the observations, words

that are associated with sex and gender, such as Fu@#, Bi@#, and gay are widely used on social

media by teenagers in Kuwait. Furthermore, this contradicts with the results of Amin &

Salehhuddin Sharipudin (2021) that mentioned that 60% of their respondents disagree that

students curse by using sexual positions such as “doggy”. However, the findings of Darwish &

Amin (2020) support the findings of the survey because they included that 37% of the “Jinn”

series included overwhelming sexual content whether verbal or practical. The classifications of
NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON LANGUAGE 18

taboo words that are presented by Husda (2021), such as obscenity, vulgarity, and profanity can

highly be seen among teenagers on social media which is in line with the findings of my survey.

4.5 Consequences of Online Language Abuse and Possible Solutions

Sixth, to have broad opinions about the negative behaviors that social media can lead to,

the respondents were allowed to choose multiple answers. The responses came respectively as

follows: 34% bullying, 29% violence, 20% racism, and 17% suicide (see figure 6). This part of

the survey drew attention to the negative activities that social media can lead to, and bullying

obtained the highest percentage among the other choices. This supports my observation of that

university WhatsApp group where a member found it amusing to use an offensive word to bully

another member. In addition, some teenagers tend to comment offensive things that combine

bullying with the other choices that were in the survey such as violence and racism. In fact, there

are some words that have different degrees of offensiveness, for example the Kuwaiti Arabic

word (‫ )ويع‬which is used to reflect digest. In line with this observation, one of the categories that

Husda (2021) divides taboo words into is vulgarity, and the use of words, such as ((‫ طسي‬was seen

as an act of vulgarity by members of that WhatsApp group.

Seventh, respondents were also required to give their takes on whether teenagers should

be banned from using social media. A high percentage of 45.7% agreed (strongly agree, 22% +

agree, 23.7%), 30.5% were neutral, and 23.7 % disagreed (disagree, 18.6% + strongly disagree,

5.1%) (see figure 7). It appears that it can come out as unconvincing to ban teenagers from social

media platforms because not all taboo word users on social media are teenagers, so Chen, Zhou,

Zhu & Xu (2012) and Bowers (2011) present possible alternatives or solutions for this issue.

First, Chen, Zhou, Zhu & Xu (2012) propose a digital filtering system that is called Lexical

Syntactic Feature (LSF). Additionally, this filtering system detects 98.24% of offensive

sentences and 77.9% of users of offensive language (Chen, Zhou, Zhu & Xu, 2012). Another

good method that substitutes banning teenagers from using social media is the use of

euphemisms. Bowers (2011) claims that by just using fewer offensive words, for example

“black” instead of “ni**er”, we can easily help in making offensive words less common. (Terry,

2020) further supports using euphemism by claiming that dysphemistic euphemism manipulates

offensive words and often turns them into something that is funny and ironic. All in all, these

findings provide solutions which contradict with the findings of our seventh survey statement.

4.6 Main Source of Swear Words and Banning Decisions

Eighth, the idea that social media is the source of swear word learning was one of the

core statements in the survey. A total percentage of 47.5% agreed with the statement (strongly

agree, 13.6% + agree, 33.9%), 27.1% were neutral, and 25.4% disagreed (disagree, 18.6% +

strongly disagree, 6.8%) (see figure 8). The majority of respondents saw that social media is not

the main source for swear word learning, in addition to the high percentage of those who were

neutral about it. It is true that social media may not be the only source, but it plays a role in
NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON LANGUAGE 20

spreading such content. For many people, social media has become a source of information

nowadays, and teenagers can easily sign up to any platform which makes social platforms strong

sources of swear word learning (Westerman et al, 2013). Therefore, it is the responsibility of

parents, authorities, and platforms to be good supervisors of what is happening to protect

teenagers. Arguably, Bednarek (2019) argues that one of the sources of swear words is fictional

science TV series, as the evolution of swear words started to take its course to a stronger level

throughout the years, for example “frak” changed into “f@#k” (Bedrarek, 2019).

Nineth, it was extremely important to ask them whether social media platforms should

ban all types of offensive language. A high percentage of 76.3% agreed (strongly agree, 45.8% +

agree, 30.5%), 13.6% were neutral, 10.2 % disagreed (disagree, 8.5% + strongly disagree, 1.7%)

(see figure 9). It was fundamental that the survey would include what respondents thought of the

idea that platforms should ban all kinds of offensive language, and the majority of the responses

came totally in favor of putting the responsibility on platforms to ban such content. Chen, Zhou,

Zhu & Xu (2012) agree with the results of the nineth statement of the survey by stating that the

Lexical Syntactic Feature (LSF) can help in the process of protecting teenagers by banning

offensive language contents. Additionally, the Lexical Syntactic Feature is one of the most

effective filtering systems that has proven effectiveness of detecting offensive sentences by

achieving over 97% of accuracy. On the other hand, Schmid (2019) argues that putting effort

into banning swear words is a waste of time because these words are part of language. Thus, she

disagrees with the findings of the survey that was answered by parents of teenagers. This makes

swearing a normal part of the foundation of language, but it holds an extreme part in the

emotional status of teenagers because they feel the need to have emotional power which is in line

with the findings of Cholidah (2017).

Finally, the closing statement targeted the issue whether they think that teenagers are the

reason that social media is becoming a negative place. A significant percentage of 54.3%

disagreed (disagree, 44.1% + strongly disagree, 10.2%), 30.5% agreed (strongly agree, 16.9% +

agree 13.6%), and 15.3% were neutral (see figure 10). The results of this survey statement were

insignificant because it was only meant to gather the opinions of respondents. They had a non-

mandatory option to rate the entire survey by using a star rating scale. The survey received 49

feedback responses about the level of satisfaction of the respondents, and the average rating was

4.43 out 5 stars.

Recommendations

Based on the findings and conclusions presented, the following recommendations are

suggested for future researchers. I recommend choosing teenagers to answer surveys to add a

different perspective to a future study, as teenagers are in the center of the issue of offensive

language use on social media. I also recommend doing further research on the issue abusive

language on social media in relation to corpus linguistics and developed filtering systems.

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Kuwait University, the department of English language and

literature, my supervisor, and all the participants who took the time to answer the survey which

contributed in collecting the data of this study.

5. Conclusion

In conclusion, after gathering responses from 59 people, there were crucial aspects that

needed to be discussed with regard to the issue of using offensive language on social media. The

responses showed that the use of offensive language exists in multiple social media platforms,

and thus teenagers are getting exposed to inappropriate content easily. The majority of parents

reflected their immense concern through their answers that social media platforms are

responsible for the security of platforms. Based on the results, YouTube is the social media

platform with highest use of swear words. The results also reflected their desire for serious steps

to be taken against this abuse by banning all kinds of offensive language. Similarly, I observed

different examples of Arabic words that were used online, such as (‫ )طسي‬and ((‫ويع‬. These Arabic

words were used by teenagers who live in Kuwait that were found to be used more on social

media than real life according to the results. Moreover, prior studies by Darwish & Ain (2020)

and Amin & Salehhuddin Sharipudin (2021) emphasize that the use of swear words is becoming

pervasive among teenagers and on social, and they shed light on its effects on the level of

society, morals, culture, etc. These solutions can be embodied by making the use of euphemism

pervasive and using linguistic filtering systems, in order to limit the use of offensive language on

social media. Chen, Zhou, Zhu & Xu (2012) proposed the use of the Lexical Syntactic Feature

(LSF), which works as a linguistic checker of offensive language. The nature of euphemism

allowed it to be a good strategy of limiting offensive language because it has become “the

language of evasion, hypocrisy, prudery, and deceit” (Holder, 2008) (cited in Nordquist, 2020).

In the end, it is true that what you are is what you say” (Raras & Sudarwati, 2021, p. 321).
NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON LANGUAGE 23

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