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Kids and The Internet
In this day and age it is not uncommon for a family to have a computer, or even more than one computer, possibly a laptop as well.

Life in a Global Village
Thanks to the Internet the world has become somewhat of a global village.

Smileys Have Come of Age
If you were to go through several cell phone text messages, instant messaging chats, message boards and email correspondence there is a good bet that they all will have at least one thing in common and that is smileys or emoticons.

Evolution of Smileys
If you have no idea what a smiley is then you have most likely never turned on a computer or watched over your kids shoulder when they are online, because they are everywhere.

Snooping or Concerned?
Naturally there are many benefits to having a computer and Internet access, but it is also important to remember that all of the components of facilitated communication are also abused by some people.

The Goal of Communication
The goal of any type of communicating or counseling is to assist people in changing how they may feel or even changing their behavior.

Tired of Limited Communication?
Communication on the web is based on the written (or typed) word, the absence of body language makes it that much more difficult to get your message across.

What Do Your Kids Do Online?
Do you know that there are companies that actually specialize in translating online slang, or "netspeak", into English?

An Emoticon is Worth a Thousand Words
It's hard to imagine that anyone who has access to a computer has not seen some of the innovative graphics that abound throughout the World Wide Web.

When Did the Web Get Cute?
Although we are not quite sure the exact moment it happened we do know it happened.

MSN Smileys plus

Expressing emotions online using text can be tough for writers unfamiliar with self-expression or anyone that has a tough time conveying their feelings through writing. For instance, say that you sent a friend an email apologizing for something, anything really and your friend simply writes back saying "Okay". It can be difficult trying to figure out the emotion of that single word; are they really angry and afraid to say too much or is it simply saying ok, no problem? But, if your friend included a little smiley or even a funny emoticon with it you would have a much better idea of the spirit in which it was really meant, taking out most of the guess work.

Naturally if a picture is worth a thousand words, emoticons and smileys may carry a huge amount of thoughts and emotions, just with one single icon. Yes, it is harder trying to communicate through typed messages instead of talking face to face. But, with emoticons and smileys it is much easier to express thoughts and emotions, some times a whole paragraph can be replaced with a single smiley or emoticon.

Sometimes even the whole message can actually be conveyed using nothing but smileys or emoticons, or that may only be true for the people that are pretty much addicted to those cute little things.

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