Screen

 Screen

What counts as a screen? 

If you said phone, TV or laptop, welcome to the modern era and generations filled with youth.

If you said barrier, partition - or even test - you are showing your age, but you aren't entirely wrong.

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Society has adapted to include the development of technology in day to day life. Language has changed accordingly to accommodate for the creation of smartphones, tablets and television – alongside other interfaces. From a linguistic perspective, ‘screen’ has become a multifaceted term that reflects the changing dynamics of communication and technology, rather than the more historical takes which refer to a physical partition.

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Kress completed a paper in 2006 where the word ‘screen’ was explored across European languages. In old German this was ‘skrank’. In modern German this is ‘Schrank’, which translates to ‘barrier’ or ‘partition’. Of course, in context, this was referring to something tangible, like a wall or stone that blocked or protected something. According to Kress, ‘screen’ over other different languages ('Ecran' in French, 'Bildschirm' in German) roughly translate to the same thing, suggesting that universally screen has once been seen to mean a barrier of some form, French also having a 'guard' connotation stemming from fire protection. Kress reinforces this by referencing Skeet’s definitions where the words have all been observed to mean ‘partition’.

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However, by the German definition Kress provided, one could argue that this older definition still applies in modern times, since ‘screen’ is a glass partition between the flesh of the user and the electronics of the device. It can also be argued more metaphorically too, with the glass acting as a barrier to the real world and the invented online one.  This is also a thought brushed upon by Kress, who states words are full of potent metaphors, screen in the modern day being such as a partition for an ‘online life’.

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As technology developed, job specific jargon may have contributed to the change in lexical meaning. For example, improved medical care introduced 'screening' for disease through technology, with the idea being you broke through the 'protective' layer of skin to see what was behind. However, as this technology branched out and became public domain, these terms further grew into general language use. Especially as affordances (such as the size or purpose) started to be known as variants of 'screen', such as, a large wall and projector became 'cinema screen'. Although, this idea still feeds back to Kress, with the older definition of barrier, as the development of cinema came from a partition. This is known as 'semantic shift' and will most likely happen again as technology develops further.

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As a result, idioms such as 'screen time' are now widely used by the public when describing the use of technology, such as playing a game on a phone, researching on a laptop or watching TV. Since there are so many uses of 'screen', it has become more of a metaphor rather than a description of a set product. For example, watching YouTube on an tablet is labelled the same way as looking at Pinterest on a mobile device. Technology can do so much, that 'screen time' is now a point of concern and to be monitored as the Guardian stated in 2019, many phones keeping track of the usage and wellbeing of a person because it is so addictive. Now, 'screen' has negative connotations, (causing depression and withdrawal - which isn't protective) and is a word often used when talking about the over-use of devices.  

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Image Credit

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Along with 'screen', words such as 'scroll', 'screenshot' and 'text' have all been used far more, since the take-over of technology. These are words attributed to screen, plus uses of screen. Whilst new words are being invented, alongside new language variants in texting, research shows that many teenagers (and parents) say screens make it harder to gain social skills, but are good for hobbies. It is considered 'reality' to some, even, just from the comfort of home. Many say it has enabled for better social stretching, and easy information, and they value 'screen' as something that just is, rather than a movement from older word meanings that Kress mentioned.

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To conclude, 'screen' is a pretty subjective term, but to the modern public refers to any technological device you can look at something on. It is a barrier between reality and online, as well as skin and wire. With the semantic change that has already happened, it is predictable that as more devices are created and the capabilities enhanced, we will have more adapted uses of 'screen' as part of our every day language. Most of society take 'screen' to mean a technological device and not a metaphor for barrier or partition, even though, strictly speaking, that's what the glass sheet is.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY and REFERENCES

Avezzù, G. (2019). The deep time of the screen, and its forgotten etymology. Journal of Aesthetics & Culture, 11(1), p.1610296. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/20004214.2019.1610296.

Bravo, D. (2003). screen (1). [online] csmt.uchicago.edu. Available at: https://csmt.uchicago.edu/glossary2004/screen.htm#:~:text=The%20origins%20of%20the%20word%20screen%20illustrate%20its [Accessed 18 Mar. 2024].

Kress, G. (2006). ‘Screen’: metaphors of display, partition, concealment and defence. Visual Communication, 5(2), pp.199–204. doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/1470357206065335.

Park, M.A., Michelle Faverio and Eugenie (2024). How Teens and Parents Approach Screen Time. [online] Pew Research Center: Internet, Science & Tech. Available at: https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2024/03/11/how-teens-and-parents-approach-screen-time/.

the Guardian. (2019). ‘Screen time’: how the phrase went from neutral to shameful. [online] Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/feb/01/from-cinema-to-smartphones-how-screen-time-became-a-problem [Accessed 17 Mar. 2024].