“Hey!”
“Yo wassup?”
“Nm...sup wid u?”
“Lol, nm”

This is what passes off as conversation these days. Gone are the days of actual communication, where people talk out loud, expressing how they feel. Gone are the days where written text contained actual words. Emailing, texting, chatting, “nudging” on MSN, “poking” on Facebook, and “pinging” on BB’s – these have taken over speaking, telegrams, and written letters.

As much as we try, we can’t truly express laughter through “LOL” or even “LMAO”, can’t truly express condescendence by “*facepalm*” can’t truly express anger, happiness, annoyance, sadness, exhilaration, laziness, and a thousand other emotions even with the use of emoticons, can’t convey the tone in which we want a particular thing to be said. And also, what annoys me the most: sms/chat language cannot truly express sarcasm!

And conversations today do not have that special touch. Letters, phone conversations, telegrams...they always gave, and continue to give a different feeling. An unsaid feeling, that let people know that they are wanted. The feeling of actually having a personal connection with the person you are having a conversation with. People receiving letters and telegrams waited for them. People used to wait by the phone to await a call from their loved ones. But now things are so different! Almost everybody has a Facebook or Twitter account, and tell all their “friends” about every tiny detail via statuses. Nothing is secret, there is no spreading of stories by word of mouth and the excitement surrounding it. Everything is available online.

What makes us different from every other living creature, aside from all the physiological differences, is the fact that we are much more than just mind and body. We have a soul that yearns to express itself effectively and creatively. But now, more than half the world’s youth express themselves in robotic gibberish that just diminishes the beauty of language. Is this what we want to leave after us for the future generations? The idea that conversations aren’t really personal, that networking for the hell of it, and exchanging a “hi, sup?” with any random person is what we should do?

The generations after us would not consider the act of professing your love out loud in front of a crowd of people as a real thing. They wouldn’t realize what the phrase “absence makes the heart grows fonder” means, because thanks to the modern day gadgets, they wouldn’t know what absence really is. They would not know about the wonders of true friendship, as they would have the same levels of trust with any random Facebook or chat room friend, and a real friend.

I’m not asking for a ban on internet language, just to not use an “LOL” instead of just laughing out loud, not use an emoticon instead of showing your emotions on your face, actually hug a person and tell them that everything will be okay instead of "*hug* it'll be k", and not have an impersonal “Whadup?” “Nm dude, u temme” instead of the real deal: a conversation.