Dr. William V. Raszka, our Associate Editor, offers the following insight into a current topic in the news:I could hardly believe my eyes. There, at the end of a short text from my wife, was an emoticon. This was surprising for many reasons. First, my wife is not a natural when it comes to texting. She uses an older phone in which each button represents three letters. So for her, texting takes a long time as she deliberately taps each key and waits for the correct letter to appear on the screen. Secondly, we have known each other a very long time and can usually ascertain each other’s mood or intent easily through written or spoken words. So why the :) ? Did she think I would not understand?
As reported in The New York Times (Fashion: October 21, 2011), emoticons, which have been a mainstay of emails and texts between teens, can now be found in conversations between adults and even among professionals in the business community. Some use them to make sure the receiver understands the intent and to avoid any miscommunication. This may be particularly important in an age where much communication is devoid of tone. Others use them to provoke a smile particularly if not a demonstrative person. While teens may use emoticons all the time, in the professional world they tend to be reserved for use in congenial relationships. As the use of emoticons has exploded so has the number of symbols. There are symbols for happiness and sadness of course, but also action (e.g. a hug), or an activity (e.g. music).
This can lead to some problems. While a little yellow smiley face (or frown) can be helpful in conveying a particular emotion, not all symbols transfer across platforms well. For example, a face or hug on one platform may appear as a series of punctuation marks in another, some of which may be confusing. Others find the use of emoticons abhorrent. Language should be specific enough to convey emotions and the need for pictorial representation is yet another example of the degradation of writing skills. While I never use emoticons in my professional correspondence, I happily returned my wife’s text simply with a :) .
Noted by WVR, MD
*This filler excerpt can be found in the January 2012 Pediatrics print journal p.20, or via online here.
