Language evolves. The pace of the evolution is dependent on the frequency of its use. For much of its history, the written word has followed behind the spoken tongue. Widespread use of words in text was almost always preceeded by the prior understanding of the word by the audience. However, the birth of the printing press was the first step towards a change in this behavior. As influential works by pioneers spread across the masses, their thoughts and understanding of the world were conveyed through the use of specific terminology which then became their accepted meaning. Terms like "Big brother" from 1984 and "Quixote" from Don Quixote altered the fabric of language as these words were first put in print before seeing widespread use in the the spoken language. Language was now arbitered by the publishers of books, and the spoken language was judged by its proximity to the written word. This forced homogeniety of language, while limiting the natural diversity of language, allowed for rapid collaboration among people with diverse abilities and knowledge and generated rapid growth.
The Internet changes this idea of having a single narrative of language. With the barriers to being a published writer being broken, and every person with a basic computer and the internet being capable of posting online, the written word has returned to being emblematic of the spoken language with one important difference. While earlier, the spread of language was limited by area, due to limited opportunists of travel, language in the hyper-connected present is limited by specialization. The evolution of specialized jargon which was earlier the mark of a highly technical field has now turned commonplace in every discussion. Nowhere is this more apparent than Reddit, a massive forum with millions of users and diverse discussions in specialised subforums. Going from one subforum to another oftentimes requires learning the jargon used in that subcommunity, even though it would have been possible to communicate the idea in reqular english, the necessity of rapid written communication forces the development of new jargon.
The bitcoin boom a year ago, and the consequent buzz generated caused a rapid increase in the use of the cryptocurrency subreddit and drove the evolution of previously unheard of jargon in under an year. Anybody who uses wishes to understand any of the discussions on this subreddit now has to spend a while figuring what words like "hodl" means.
The evolution of jargon at such a rapid pace, with no single body to assimilate and comprehend the variety of changes is reminiscent of the earlier natural evolution of language, with physical area being replaced by human-made mental separations. This poses the same hindrance to communication that was present before the formation of a single widespread language. A biologist talking to a physicist today would spend several hours describing the jargon of their fields before being able to collaborate on any problem. An electrician having to do the same when talking to an architect would only slow the progress of developing new ideas. While websites like urban dictionary exist to allow us to rapidly lookup the jargon used, it is also necessary for us to prevent the diversification of language to a point where talking to people outside your specialization takes undue use of time.
