Emoticons - Good or bad?

[jeral Profile]

Someone on telly, Joe Brand I think, recently said not good as if people used them they weren't trying hard enough to use words in their sentence to properly describe what they wanted to say, so in effect reducing our ability to use language/words effectively.

I reckon she has a point. On the other hand, if a picture paints a thousand words, don't emoticons save at least one sentence and possibly long unwieldy posts that people might not even bother to read, so "short & sharp + emoticon" does the job quicker for both typist and reader?

What do you think?

[Stokey Sue Profile]

I think that if i spent all the time it requires to work up perfect finished prosse that expresses exactly what I mean I'd never be off t'internet

Sometimes an emoticon is just enough to show what kind of a reaction you want to convey and can provoke a chuckle, or an aah, which can't be bad

On the other had I don't like messages that are peppered with little faces in an attempt to give spurious character to dull posts. Especially if combined with textspeak it can come across as infantile and be hard work to read.