(-: Just Between You and Me ;-)
Just to quickly recap, the article focuses on the use of emoticons...among full-grown adults. Common criticism is that use of emoticons is entirely inappropriate and unprofessional among adults in the work setting. Its use is juvenile and considered acceptable only among youngsters apparently. Employees of corporate offices were found to be exchanging e-mails with emoticons, and the big shots of the companies weren't very happy. Check out the article if you have time...it's pretty interesting. I even learned some emoticons I had never seen before!
I'm actually having trouble with pasting the link...for some reason, you can't click on it. So just look up the article in New York Times if you can spare the time!
2 comments:
This is an interesting question because there seems to be a fine line between the usefulness and immaturity of emoticons. I think that a lot of times people (including adults) use emoticons to clarify the intention of a statement (sometimes it can be difficult to tell otherwise because there is no voice inflection on email/IM).
Of course, emoticons probably wouldn't be necessary in a professional email because it would be written more seriously and professionally than quick notes to and from coworkers. We've talked about context a lot in this class, and I think this issue provides a good example of the importance of context in a written medium.
Haha! I love how they divide them into "beginner," "intermediate," and "advanced" emoticons. I also liked the phrase "arguably as dignified as dotting one’s I’s with kitten faces." LOL Although the article did make me feel like a bad writer. If I need emoticons in my communications to my friends, does that mean I'm not eloquent enough to express my emotions in the words?
I think this class is going to make me "revert" to proper spelling and communication in my online activities. It has made me so self-conscious about it!
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