Emoticon inflation

Social Capital‘s discussion of the risk of miscommunication via email is right on the mark.  It’s painful to think of the number of hours the average office worker spends re-reading emails received, trying to figure out the sender’s tone, and re-writing emails ad nauseum (particularly to a boss or client) to hit just the right note.  Add to that the loss in productivity due to email-based misunderstandings about the task at hand (not to mention time wasted reading irrelevant emails–but that’s another issue) and it’s debatable whether email truly does improve efficiency.

Written communications have always been an important part of doing business, but in the days of actual letters and memos, it was much easier because the tone was always formal. Master the memo writing style, and you were set. Now, you have to make the judgment call every time. How casual? How familiar? How upbeat? How serious?

As a shortcut, to make things easier—particularly in personal emails—many of us increasingly resort to adding boatloads of exclamation points and smiley faces to convey that while the text itself may seem brusque, it’s because we’re in a rush and can’t spend half an hour to find a clever and elegant way to express happiness and enthusiasm through actual words. Atrocious writing?  Yes… but hopefully it helps avoid hurt feelings. A small price to pay.  However, emoticon inflation is becoming a serious problem. ; )!!!!!!!  lol