Our Good Friends Smileys :)

I have been struggling lately for trying hard not to use smileys in my posts. I thought my posts would look like Facebook updates if they were studded with smileys. But its not been easy :O . Oh! that temptation to put ' :P' or ' ;) ' every time I am trying to be funny . But with a heavy heart I decided , if I want to be taken seriously then I can't put smileys in posts ;). Thankfully this post is going to be an exception :).


Smileys have lent a whole new meaning to our conversations on Chats and SMS. They have made our lives simpler in many ways. It has become easier for us to convey emotions in this world where more talks happen on messages than ever before. Make ' :P ' and they know you are joking. Make ' x(' and you are angry. Make ' :O' and you are amazed or shocked. Make ' :) ' when you can't think of anything else. Thankfully ' :) ' has replaced 'K' for ending the conversations.


They have literally lent new meaning to our conversations. Like you could tell someone " You look so stupid in this picture :p :p" and its taken so sportingly and everyone forgets it as a joke or something. Imagine this in times devoid of smileys. You are chatting with someone and the person on other side tells you "You look so stupid in this pic" and that would be the beginning of a long duel if not the end of your friendship. You can do some serious talk and then put ' ;)' or 'B) ' if you think it got a bit too far. If you are a person who doesn't like to type a lot and really care to be cordial with person on other side, then smileys are your savior. Just 1-2 smileys in between keeps the conversation going . All in all, these smileys come very handy if you know the right smileys for the right time and right place B-).


It looks like there is some sort of competition among developers for who can provide better and greater smileys. And why not, if everything equals out, its on the basis of smileys that people decide which site or chat they would go with.  Smileys have come a long way. It all started with just the symbols on your keyboard/keypad to the simple yellow round faces for a few emotions to the most advanced animated smileys for the emotions you've never even experienced. On one chat application, there are almost 4-5 types of smileys just for one emotion of being sad. And you are left wondering which type of sad you are before you can express your sadness.  Nevertheless, the creativity they put in the emoticons is commendable.


So emoticons have become a part of all our lives. But I wonder what do we do in such situations when we are not in the virtual world, but face to face with the real people. I don't remember making faces like ':P' or ';)' or carrying shades all around to do 'B)' this. It's probably the tone of speaking or the body language that conveys the message. Thanks to smileys we have become very proficient at conveying our emotions on chat but are we at loss of gestures/words/ways when we have to face people and convey the same emotions? Its so easy to make a ' :) ' even when you hate to do it to but can you really smile when you are facing people?  But then, not many people with whom we chat do we actually meet up often. So emoticons are here to stay with us forever. Or who knows :)


Keep emoting :) :)