Thursday, February 25, 2010

LOL is OUT

I’ll get right to the point. LOL is way out of control. I’ve put off writing this for a couple of reasons:

1) People who type LOL have no malicious intent and are just trying to express in writing that they’ve experienced a physical reaction to what they’ve just read.
2) Generally when I read LOL it is in response to something I’ve written that somebody liked enough to laugh out loud. So why would I want to crush that person, right?

Having said that, it’s time that LOL went the way of “Not!”, “Psyche”, “Rad”, “Whatever”, “Sup” and all other clichéd rhetoric. Sure those expressions were fun for a while but their overuse grew to a point of annoyance. Soon those smiles on the faces of your friends turned to looks of disapproval as your go to phrase “My Bad” turned from acceptance to irritation.

This is where LOL becomes a tougher cookie to crack. In this age of texting and social media, communication has exploded but face to face contact has nearly disappeared. You share information with people daily who you see rarely, if ever. You also have the ability to throw out your two cents into cyberspace without any feedback in return. Also with this entirely written communication you are limited to how you can express yourself and to how your expression is received (no hand gestures, eye contact, facial expressions, sighs, grunts or…wait for it…laughter).

What I’m trying to say is that I understand where this has come from and the same reason that necessitated its creation is the same reason that it has hung on so long. No nonverbal cues to tell you that it’s time to move on. I do believe that it has its place but people, please I’m begging you, show some restraint. If everything you read is making you Laugh Out Loud you may need medication.

When you regularly use LOL it just becomes contrived and trite. If something truly tickles your funny bone throwing out LOL shows no thought or originality. Not to mention you aren’t even taking the time to spell out Laughing Out Loud.

As someone with a fragile ego who desperately needs people commenting on what I write, I get wanting to comment on something that you liked to show your appreciation for the chuckle it gave you. I’m just asking that you have something to say. I know everyone’s not witty and I’m not saying that you shouldn’t reply or comment unless you have something witty to say (although that would be nice); matter of fact one of my other pet peeves is people endeavoring to be witty when they are not (we’ll save that for a different blog). What I’m saying is that if you read something that made you laugh and you want to comment or reply to that effect let’s try to mix it up. Maybe something like or “That was some funny crap!” or “Man you are really funny, and good looking. I adore you.”

There’s got to be a better way and I’m not saying I have the answer. For myself I go to great lengths not to use LOL. I probably overuse Mr. Smiley face in the process. :o)

Using LOL is a personal choice. What I’m suggesting is that it should only be used in cases of emergency. For instance, you are skydiving and your chute doesn’t open and you go to check facebook on your Blackberry one last time and read one of my hilarious status updates about pant-less TV watching or my unnatural obsession with bacon. Sure the ground is rushing up to meet you but your last desire in this world is to tell me that my post amused you, then by all means use LOL because time is short and people need to know that something made you laugh…out loud.

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