Today, I was scrolling through my subscriptions list and found a video that pertains to almost every single young adult today that either texts, chats through instant messages, or sends e-mails. Watch below:
After watching this video, I began to reflect back on my own usage of emoticons. I admit, I am quite the frequent user of emoticons. However, I didn't realize just how frequently I inserted emoticons into my messages until I checked the outgoing text messages in my phone...
I realize that about 90% of my texts have some sort of emoticons in them. And upon reflecting back on my uses of emoticons online, I realize that I probably use an emoticon every few instant messages... No e-mail goes out into the world wide web and into the screen of one of my friends without containing a few smileys here and there. (Also, if you keep up with my passion blog, you'll notice that every single post has some sort of emoticon in it.)
My most frequently used are:
"The Smiley" :)
"The Frowny" :(
"The Smiley 2" :]
"The Frowny 2" :[
"The Happy" ^^
"The Extra Happy" ^-^
"The Super Excited!" :D
"The Extra Happy Plus Peace Sign" ^-^v
"The UGH" T_T
"The UGH 2" -_-
"The UGH 3" =_=
"The Extra UGH" =_=;; (The added semi-colons are kinda hard to explain. I assume if you're Asian, no further explanation is needed. If you're not. Uh... Ask me later?)
"The Scratching the Head in Confusion" o_oa
(Okay, so the last one isn't one that I use all the time. But it's one of my favorites for being so darn creative and cute!)
The use of emoticons have been spreading like rapid fire. What could have been a "that sounds fine" can now be replaced with a simple ":)". Rhetorically, emoticons give written conversation a new medium through which we can convey our emotions. However, I believe that emotions go beyond that one simple purpose.
As I was observing the way in which I use my emoticons, I noticed that I inserted smileys and etc. in places that didn't necessarily need a visual aide in conveying the message. Upon this revelation, I discovered that in many instances I used a :) or ^^ to soften up the meaning of the message. In other words, with my emoticons, I managed to rhetorically alter the atmosphere in which my message was conveyed. For example: Yesterday a friend texted me saying that she had forgotten that she was supposed to meet with me at 2:30. She told me she thought I had told her a later time. This news arrived after I had reached her building. Annoyed, I texted back "I told you I ended class at 2:15... I'm at your building already, but I guess I'll talk to you later. Don't worry about it :)"
I wanted to convey the message that I was upset. However, I didn't want to end the conversation on a bad note. So I inserted the smiley face at the end to soften up the tone of my message.
There are so many ways in which we utilize emoticons--especially when mere words just won't do the trick. If you're one of those people who rarely use emoticons, then good for you. Maybe you're just extremely eloquent with your words and have no need for the rhetorical assistance that emoticons provide. However, if you're one of those people who say whatever they'd like and assume that a smiley face at the end makes it all okay, please think again. The usage of emoticons doesn't cancel out the need for common courtesy. =)
The rhetorical pain in the butt that is the lack of emotion that comes with written text is in a way alleviated by emoticons. Although it feels silly using them, they do help to put an end to some of the ambiguity that comes with writing to others. Although they are completely inappropriate in a professional context, sometimes I wish I could express myself through emoticons so I can get my feelings across. Perhaps it encourages us to enhance our vocabularies to better capture our true intentions. Either way, it just seems like emoticons are more fun :) !
ReplyDeleteI have to admit that I am a generous user of emoticons. Honestly, sometimes I need to restrain myself. But nevertheless I think they add a little flare to each text message. Sometimes it's really hard to express your emotions via text, so i guess there's nothing wrong with a harmless smiley face!
ReplyDeleteI'm not a huge user of emoticons, but I will put in a :D from time to time. I wish they made a different font for sarcasm, because I have definitely offended people with my sense of humor. Some of the emoticons you put up I have never seen before. I particularly like the extra happe peace sign!
ReplyDeleteYou could probably do a whole analysis on teenagers based on how they share information and their moods. It isn't enough to go against the previous ways of just talking in person, we do it through texts, but we have to even replace the emotions into words with emotions into expressions through the qwerty keyboard.
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