There’s a debate at work regarding acronyms. There’s lots of opinions out there in the world on acronyms. The pro-acronym camp looks something like this:

  • They are helpful mnemonics that reduce cognitive load. You’d never have passed algebra class without PEMDAS, right?
  • The increase reading and writing speed (fewer words to read, fewer keystrokes to press).
  • Acronyms reduce word count, making text more concise. Less to read is better in the twitter age, right?

The anti-acronym camp looks something like this:

  • They are confusing jargon that increase cognitive load. Stopping to remember what an acronym stands for and looking it up slows you down.
  • They increase reading and writing speed only if the acronym is familiar to the reader and writer.
  • They are shortcuts to get around word count limits.

So, to abbreviate or not to abbreviate?

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