LINGUISTICS is a highly evolving field. As with any academic discipline, one discovery leads to another, and the way things were understood half a century ago would be understood way differently now. To begin with, initially, linguistics was only concerned with language use in speech and writing. However, with technology being available to almost anyone nowadays, linguists realized there is a need to account for language used in computerized communication. For example, one might think that the language used in Facebook Messenger might seem like just ordinary face-to-face conversations. But no, they are far different. In Facebook Messenger, you can hinge your reply to a chat bubble earlier in the conversation. This is not possible in face-to-face modes, as you must reply immediately to something the other person said, or else it will be lost in the conversation.