‘Deabbreviation’ in Digital Communication

In the digital age, rapid communication often compromises warmth and depth in relationships. Abbreviations like “HBD” instead of “Happy Birthday” reflect a trend of emotional detachment. This paper introduces “deabbreviation,” a process for restoring warmth and depth in digital communication. Rather than just expanding abbreviations, deabbreviation aims to infuse messages with emotional presence and genuine connection, fostering wholeness in relationships. Through a “musical narrative” within a platonic friendship shaped by unspoken emotions, this study explores deabbreviation’s transformative potential. Focus group participants confirmed that deabbreviation restored a human touch to digital communication. Aligned with integral theory, the paper argues that true wholeness in relationships transcends efficiency and requires conscious, meaningful engagement. Deabbreviation offers a pathway to more fulfilling human connections in a fragmented digital world.

KULASURIYA, Chandana Dr.

Sri Lanka / Australia

Chandana Kulasuriya is a Sri Lankan–Australian artist, university lecturer, and engineer. He holds two bachelor’s degrees: a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering and a Bachelor of Arts in Fine Arts with Philosophy. Later, he earned a Doctorate in Engineering from Curtin University, Australia. As an artist, Chandana is actively engaged in painting and filmmaking. His paintings, which range from realistic to abstract, have been exhibited in several exhibitions in Sri Lanka and Australia. In filmmaking, he has conceptualized, scripted, and directed several academic films. Notably, his first academic film—a philosophical feature film on visual pollution—was screened at the Integral Art Exhibition, held alongside the Integral Theory Conference 2015 in California, USA. Through his art, Chandana aims to initiate discourse on issues such as technology, ecology, culture, society, and aesthetics, integrating all four quadrants of the integral framework.

https://ou.ac.lk/