Emoticons

In class on Friday we read an article about emoticons. these articles stated that the use of emoticons was a waste of time and made you look stupid, in some cases it said that emoticons are often changed when sending email depending on what type of email you have adding typos and random gibberish to emails. What do i think about emoticons? i personally believe that when emoticons are used sparingly and correctly they can be very beneficial to an email. emoticons allow for sarcasm or jokes to be interrupted correctly. a winky face after line that is meant in a joking tone can make a large difference. adding a smiley or other emoticon can differentiate between offensive and joking very easily. But i do agree that using emoticons can deteriorate emails that are meant to be professional, when sending a email to a friend  believe that it is acceptable to use emoticons sparingly , but when emailing a boss coworker or teacher emoticons should be left out. Emoticons are something that are hear to stay, but if people begin to use them less they will retain a larger meaning and not make the users look stupid.