I am not exactly sure when it happened but with all the internet short-hand we have become a society addicted to :), LOL, and :shrug:. Now I'm a frequent user and do think the emoticons are invaluable as they are an extremely effective way of communication the nuance of language which is a lost art-form in today's age of email, twitter and texts. It is an effective method of conveying that a particular email contains sarcasm or another one is pure truth and in a sensitive society where we often over-analyze every word for meaning it serves a real purpose. The issue I have is that we've substituted good back-and-forth and written conversation to posts of three letters.
It also proves how desensitized we have all become when the only response to a clever email is LOL and then a few months ago Facebook one-upped even that minimal short-hand with the 'I like this' option. 'I Like This" is now short-hand for shorthand.
I have been monitoring the 'I like this' and find that we have become so jaded that a single "I like this' seems to keep most Facebook posters completely content and begging for more. It's like a high-school beauty contest to see which insecure pimple-faced 9th grader can get the most votes foe Class President.
And whatever happened to "dislike" have we become a society where we are afraid to allow people to not like something. Honestly 3/4 of the status updates are pure crap and a little feedback may help clean up the clutter.
But with all the complaints about the dumbing down of society through all this shorthand the saddest thing though is when somebody "likes" their own post, this is either a pathetic attempt to boost your poll numbers or a lame attempt to virtually pat yourself on the back.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
No comments:
Post a Comment