LOSING OUR LANGUAGE (aka. LOL)
There's a conversational coverup going on!
Texting in its need for brevity has ushered in a vocab that has the added power to redirect a conversation.
Originally, I embraced this three letter exclamation but I have seen it misused too many times. I insert an LOL when I find a text entry really funny - not "oh, I wasn't in the right head space when I wrote that. Lol ".
So are those awkward LOL icons really suggesting there is no need for serious explanation or input? It bypasses, quite often, the accountability of any situation.
Listen, I certainly find awkward texts funny. But this little emoticon has crept in, and I know a lot of people who use it incessantly. It's at the point where I don't even believe there's actually any laughing going on!
LOL emerged and was adopted from the Live Laugh Love movement. The thrust of this positive thinking mind philisophy is to diffuse sabotaging thoughts by focusing on good vibes only. The way we speak and write had to echo this so friends became BFFs and together we LOL our way through everything.
Using an emoticon is essential to texting, and when fitting, it makes total sense.
It's the thinking disorder that emerges when we hide behind three letters to cover our blunders. Where did the word sorry go? Where did our explanations go?
One of the worst places for LOL vibes is at the workplace. You experience management that does its managing in a LOL context. It gives the perception that little things are to be mentioned lightly but not in a "why" are these things happening. In other words, let's keep the good vibes workplace environments free from the clutter of shared responsibility. If everything is a LOL moment then usually conflict resolution is being avoided. How many times have you thought you were in the pocket but then there's sudden aggression creeping into communications. It throws you off guard because your guided perception of the person does not match the new vibe being shown. One of the covert tactics to laughing out loud mindset is creating dissasociation from conflict in the one who misuses LOL.
I am serious about it. Words matter. Texting matters. The weakening of intentional conversation has caused a ripple effect at home, work and play. Without realizing it, Messages, Messenger, WhatsApp etc has fostered a surreal wordscape that is not bridging or enhancing communications but throwing a wrench in it. The damage is done but if we would take a look at how we text, it might surprise us. There's always room to make changes to bring back honest conversation and not hide behind emoticons.
If you are uncomfortable with this writing, you can always give it a thumbs down, or dispel a forced chuckle but let's not lose our language over it.
LOL.
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