THE INFLUENCE OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON THE LANGUAGE OF TODAY’S YOUTH

Keywords: social media, youth language, internet slang, English borrowings, TikTok, Instagram (принадлежит Meta, признанной экстремистской и запрещённой в России), online communication, multilingualism.

“Cringe”, “vibe”, “crush” and “red flag” are examples of expressions that move between social media and ordinary conversation. Someone may use one of these words in a comment and then repeat it when talking to friends. The word itself is only part of the story. Its meaning, spelling and grammatical form can change when it is used in another language.

Social media provide plenty of opportunities to encounter such expressions. Pew Research Center’s 2024 survey found that TikTok and Instagram (принадлежит Meta, признанной экстремистской и запрещённой в России) were widely used by teenagers aged 13 – 17 in the United States [1]. The findings concern American teenagers, rather than young people in Kazakhstan. Even so, they help explain why online platforms deserve attention as places where young people read, hear and use language.

This article brings together selected studies and language examples to discuss borrowing, online writing and the mixing of languages. Kazakhstan is of particular interest because Kazakh, Russian and English can all be used in the same conversation. The examples below are illustrations, rather than a measured sample of young people’s speech.

Youth slang did not begin with social media. New expressions have long circulated through friendships, music and popular culture. Online communication adds another setting in which speakers can share them. Crystal’s discussion of internet language is useful here: a message is written down, but it can have the immediacy and informality of speech [2]. This helps explain why the language of a chat does not always resemble the language of a textbook.

English borrowings are easy to notice. Words such as “like”, “repost”, “stories”, “trend” and “fake” name familiar online activities or ideas. Speakers do not always keep these words in their original form. In Russian, for example, “layknut” means to like something, “repostit” means to repost, and “zabanili” means that someone was banned. The English stem is used with Russian grammatical forms.

Kazakh examples show a different kind of combination. In “layk bas” (press like) and “repost zhasa” (make a repost), a borrowed word is paired with a Kazakh verb. “Storis saldym” means “I posted a story”. These phrases are useful examples because the languages are not simply placed next to each other. They work together within an expression that the speaker can use in a familiar situation.

Meaning matters as much as grammar. English “crush” can refer to romantic attraction or to the person someone is attracted to. In Russian online slang, “krash” is commonly used for a person someone likes. “Red flag” is another example: in a discussion about relationships, it refers to a warning sign in someone’s behaviour. Translating the individual words is not enough to explain the expression. The reader needs to know how it is used.

Choosing a borrowed word does not necessarily mean that someone has forgotten a Russian or Kazakh equivalent. A familiar expression may be shorter or better suited to a conversation with friends. The same choice may need reconsidering in an application or a formal letter. What matters is whether the word fits the audience and the purpose of the text.

Short reactions show how much a message can leave unsaid. “Zhiza” can stand for “exactly the same thing happened to me”. “Cringe” can express embarrassment at something the writer has seen. A person who knows the slang understands the reaction without a longer explanation. Someone unfamiliar with it may understand very little. Brevity works when the participants share enough context.

Memes depend on a similar kind of shared knowledge. A phrase may be funny because it recalls a video, a scene or an earlier joke. Without that reference, the words can seem ordinary or confusing. This is one reason why knowing the vocabulary of a language does not always make an online conversation easy to follow.

Not every expression lasts. Some remain tied to a particular trend, while others become useful beyond it. It is therefore worth asking when and where an example was used. A phrase that seems familiar in one online community may be unknown in another. Describing all young people’s speech through a few fashionable words would overlook these differences.

The way a message looks can also carry meaning. Repeated letters in “noooo” or “woooow” suggest a stretched sound. Capital letters may indicate excitement or emphasis. An emoji can add a reaction that would otherwise be expressed through a facial expression or tone of voice. These choices help a writer convey something that ordinary spelling alone may not show.

Punctuation can be read in much the same way. Compare “okay” and “okay.”. In some conversations, the second reply may seem more abrupt. In others, it will simply look like a complete sentence. The full stop does not have one fixed emotional meaning; the relationship between the speakers and the surrounding messages affect the interpretation.

This does not make spelling rules unnecessary. It means that a chat and an academic assignment have different demands. A brief, unfinished phrase may work as an immediate reply to a friend. In an essay, the reader usually needs a complete explanation. Before treating a feature of online writing as an error, it helps to consider what the message is supposed to do.

TikTok makes repetition particularly visible. Users can encounter the same sound or phrase in several videos, sometimes with a different joke or situation each time. Repetition may help an expression become familiar. Whether it then enters a person’s everyday speech would need to be studied separately, rather than assumed from its appearance in a feed.

Platform rules can influence wording too. Moskal and Supernak discuss “algospeak”, the use of altered words and expressions to avoid restrictions on TikTok [3]. A writer may replace a direct term, change its spelling or insert a symbol. The resulting expression responds both to other users and to the platform’s moderation. Language choice is shaped by the technical setting as well as by the conversation.

Instagram (принадлежит Meta, признанной экстремистской и запрещённой в России) offers another setting for language use through captions, Stories, Reels and messages. A short caption can combine a local language with words such as “mood”, “weekend” or “look”. These formats can also give users opportunities to practise a foreign language. Lee’s study examines how the two platforms support informal language learning through their features and users’ creative choices [4].

For foreign-language students, an online feed can supply useful examples of colloquial speech. Videos allow them to hear pronunciation, while comments show how people react to each other. Still, a phrase that appears frequently is not suitable for every situation. Checking its meaning and tone is especially important before using it in academic work.

Kazakhstan’s multilingual environment adds another layer to this discussion. Kuderinova, Baiteliyeva and Duisebekova studied students’ use of and attitudes towards Kazakh, Russian and English [5]. Their work provides background for understanding young people’s language choices. It also reminds us that those choices cannot be explained through social media alone.

A speaker may use an English term for an app feature, a Kazakh verb for an action and a Russian expression for a reaction. Such combinations can be understandable to people who share the same languages, even when they appear unusual to an outsider. The examples “layk bas” and “storis saldym” show why describing a phrase as entirely English or entirely Kazakh can miss how it is actually formed.

There is also a practical issue for students: moving between styles. A chat message may be clear because both people already know the situation. An academic text has to provide that missing background. The writer needs to explain the idea, support it and guide the reader to a conclusion. This difference does not prove that social media weaken writing skills. It shows why students need practice with more than one kind of writing.

Online language involves creativity as well as shortening. Speakers adapt words, play with spelling and use familiar phrases in new settings. These choices can make a message expressive. They can also make it harder to understand for someone outside the group. Both effects are worth considering when discussing youth slang.

The examples in this article show how borrowing, language mixing and written signals of tone can work in online communication. They do not establish how common these practices are among young people in Kazakhstan. A study of a defined sample of posts, compared with everyday speech, could explore that question. For students of foreign languages, the useful distinction is between knowing an expression and knowing where it belongs. Informal language can be appropriate among friends, while an academic or official text requires choices suited to a different reader.

References

1. Faverio M., Sidoti O. Teens, Social Media and Technology 2024. Pew Research Center, 2024. URL: https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2024/12/12/teens-social-media-and-technology-2024/ (accessed: 12.10.2026).
2. Crystal D. Language and the Internet. 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006.
3. Moskal M., Supernak N. Censorship in the age of social media and algorithms: A linguistic study of TikTok algospeak in light of computer-mediated communication, x-phemisms, and taboos // Studia Neophilologica. 2026. Vol. 98. No. 1. P. 61⁠–⁠83. DOI: 10.1080/00393274.2025.2607100.
4. Lee Y.-J. Language learning affordances of Instagram and TikTok // Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching. 2023. Vol. 17. No. 2. P. 408⁠–⁠423. DOI: 10.1080/17501229.2022.2051517. Instagram (принадлежит Meta, признанной экстремистской и запрещённой в России).
5. Kuderinova K., Baiteliyeva Zh., Duisebekova Zh. Multilingual Kazakhstani youth and the state language // Bulletin of the Karaganda University. Philology series. 2022. Vol. 105. No. 1. P. 36⁠–⁠45. DOI: 10.31489/2022Ph1/36⁠–⁠45.