David Crystal - The Effect of New Technologies on English.

In this lecture David Crystal discusses the influences 'new technologies' have had on the English language. He explains why he believes new technology such as the internet and text messaging do not pose a threat to the English language, citing inventions such as the newspaper and the telephone which were harmless.

He believes that in the roughly twenty years the internet has been around, the English language has not significantly changed apart from the introduction of a few abbreviations such as 'lol'. He mentions that abbreviations only make up 10% of the average text message as per studies he and his colleagues have run.
He does, however, state that the internet may have a greater influence on English and other languages in the future.

Overall, he dismisses the notion that new technology will destroy the English language, calling the idea "rubbish",

I agree with David Crytal.