The e-war: emotions or emoticons.

There seem to be two types of people on the net, those that use emoticons, and those that don’t.  The sides are like those people that prefer dogs to cats, Redskins to Cowboys, shaken to stirred–they are fortified in their belief.  The question arises, however: why?  Why does anybody use these things?  Or why doesn’t everybody use them?  What creates the divergence between those that 🙂 upon it and those that frown?  Perhaps it’s all in interpretation.

Both words and emoticons sent via the web must be interpreted.  Some things are easy, like “I’m going to Burger King in a few minutes, you should come.”  That person’s probably going to end up at Burger King in the near future, and wouldn’t mind your company.  Then there are the elusive comments, like “Yeah…” or “Ha.”  What does it mean if the “year” trails off like that?  Does that means it’s awkward now?  And the single “ha,” is that laughter, or is that pointed criticism hidden behind e-sarcasm?  These are things that the sender has to carefully craft based on their knowledge of the recipient of the information.  In the same way, people must be careful with using emoticons for the same reason–perhaps to a greater extent.

Here’s another example:
Mike:  See you soon!
Mary:  Okay 🙂

That’s pretty straight-forward, and you’d be hard-pressed to mix up the implied happiness of Mary’s declaration.  But how about this one:

Mike:  Hey Jenny
Mike:  Mary*
Mary:  Jenny? `,: |

The semi-stern cocked eyebrow may be lost on some viewers, and Mike may instead think that Mary has just fallen asleep on the keyboard.  This example just shows how you have to be careful when working with more complicated expressions.  The same goes for sad Santa: *<||:-(>

In addition, different people have different styles of emoticons.  For instance, it was only a matter of time before the simple smiley 🙂 met it’s upright counterparts.  Different genres, like anime and video gamers spawned their own various faces and meanings, which then slowly became integrated into the public mixture to further confuse the rest of the populous.  For example:

>.<
=.O
T_T
t.t
o.o
@v@
-.-
^.^
etc…

I am of the belief that some people have confidence their conversation partner will be able to keep up with their meaning, whereas other people are more confident that the words they choose will effectively carry their intentions.  In this way, some people see fit to toss in smiles and frowns and yells all over the place.  Others think even the most basic use could potentially be catastrophic, and forgo the option altogether (see below).

Mary:  Ugh
Mary:  Today was HORRIBLE!!1
Mike:  Why is that?
Mary:  I can’t find my necklace.  My mother gave it to me!
Mike:  Oh..  🙂
Mary has signed off.
Mike:  You left it in m–

That’s as far as Mike gets in trying to tell Mary she left the necklace at his place, but she just thinks he’s insensitive because of his satisfaction that he was going to be able to make her day.  Is the situation irreversible?  Of course not.  Could it lead to a big fight?  I’ve fought over less.

I’m not one to tell a person how to conduct themself on the Web; I’ve simply noticed trends that run across it, and think they’re worth exploring.  Emoticons probably will not be anybody’s downfall, but they may lead to some unnecessary confusion.