On emoticons

For ages, art has been one of the main methods through which people can express their feelings, themselves. Every brushstroke, every scribble of a pencil, adds a new emotion. One instance that can speak a thousand words.

It can be as simple as a smiling face to show that someone’s happy, to dark colors thrown in an abstract way to show their deep confusion.

As technologies improve, there has been yet another way to express yourself through pictures….. Emoticons.

My first experience with these curious faces and pictures was when I got my first email account. I was so fascinated by those faces that I add them unnecessarily to every email that I sent.

Then of course, I joined Facebook. People may say that Facebook is a waste of time, that it rots your brains, maybe so, but it definitely helps you learn your emoticons.

For my first few chats it would be the basic happy face [ :)] or sad face [:(]. But my dear friends taught me many more faces and pictures, from hearts [ <3 ], to sharks [ (^^^) ], to penguins [ <(“)  ], from devils [ 3:) ] to angels [ O:) ] ….

I had a great time in the beginning, pestering whoever I could to show me more emoticons and how to make them.

However, at that time it was limited only to Facebook, and Gmail. Now, you can see a number of these familiar faces in my diary as well.

Adults are also getting into the practice, with my mom exploring them a little, herself (as she now proudly tells me!)

It’s just a surprise how small things like these, impact our every day lives, and just add a smile to our faces :).