YouTube vs. Language

In my opinion, the question "whether a medium like YouTube will ever be able to replace our regular language as the primary tool of communication" has to be answered with “No”. Communication without language is not possible. People need a language to communicate with each other, even if they are not able to speak. Sign language, for instance, was invented because hearing impaired people do also have to communicate with their environment.

Most of the YouTube videos consist of language, be it spoken or written, because an animation or a collection of pictures are not always useful to mediate the whole content. Of course, in some cases pictures is worth a thousand words thinking of catastrophes like 9/11 or the riots in Syria. Nonetheless, language can never be replaced by videos because language is something interactive. We can talk to the person right next to us about a YouTube video and the pictures presented there and we will get an answer immediately. Furthermore, with the tool of language we are able to express our feelings, ideas etc. in different ways and tones. Language is a complex tool which can never be replaced by videos or other media.