Why we always misunderstand one another on the Internet

[Bush]

Can you imagine if Shakespeare had used emoticons?

"Now is the winter of our discontent
Made glorious summer by this sun of York! "

Ugh.

Granted. But when his plays are acted out, the actors become the ultimate emoticons.

 

[Chrysanthe]

: We need to create symbols which we place before what we write which explicitly state our intended tone.

 

[chickpea]

people who hate emoticons are on the wrong side of history.

 

[Poki]

This.

Another major factor is that people are isolated behind a screen and consequences are less on their mind. As a result, they word things more strongly and less carefully, which others often take with full weight or further. If something were in place to make us more cautious in delivery, things would be better.

I know lots who do this in real life. *cough* ETJ *cough* lol

 

[miss fortune]

I use quite a few emoticons just because I got tired of people taking half of what I say wrong... in other words, when you guys get better at reading, I'll quit harassing you with emoticons! ..... maybe






A lot of my communication in person is non-verbal, and over the phone it's intonation based (granted, the only people I speak to on the phone are my parents, who have a very similar sense of humor)... the internet really removes most of what I'm communicating!

 

[angelgirl]

I think emoticons are a really good way of keeping our messages friendly and enjoyable. I feel we misunderstand each other online because we see can't see each other, there's no eye contact and we can't hear each others' tone.

 

[Bush]

What if you have a dry sense of humor? You'd be equally misunderstood on the Internet and real life.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

What if you have a dry sense of humor? You'd be equally misunderstood on the Internet and real life.

Yes, you would.

 

[angelgirl]

What if you have a dry sense of humor? You'd be just as misunderstood in real life as you are on the Internet.

Yes, and sometimes people misunderstand sarcasm too but it's easier when you get to see peoples' facial expressions. Another misunderstanding on the internet is we can't see people's age, gender and make assumptions about if they're adults, children or men or women (unless you ask them, I suppose).

 

[Qlip]

Yes, and sometimes people misunderstand sarcasm too but it's easier when you get to see peoples' facial expressions. Another misunderstanding on the internet is we can't see people's age, gender and make assumptions about if they're adults, children or men or women (unless you ask them, I suppose).

But it's worth mentioning, this is a lot of the reason why people communicate on the internet. Because they don't want people judging them by their age or sex. I suppose sometimes these facts are actually very relevant to conversation, even if we don't want them to be, this must occasionally add confusion.

 

[Kas]

It’s estimated that in the face to face communication only 10% of information that the person gets are words, about 50% is body language and about 40% tone of the voice. So it’s natural that communication on the internet is more difficult. It’s harder to sense when people are joking, when they are serious , are they sad or happy. Irony is sometimes more difficult to catch.

It’s easier to text with somebody you know for sure. You can associate words with particular tone or emotion.

 

[windoverlake]

Kramer and Mickey

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5b_n39kHflg&feature=youtu.be&t=1m4s

 

[1487610420]

 

[ceecee]

Can you imagine if Shakespeare had used emoticons?

"Now is the winter of our discontent
Made glorious summer by this sun of York! "

Ugh.

This made me laugh. Not enough to use an emoticon but, more than a chuckle, less than a belly laugh.

 

[SearchingforPeace]

What if you have a dry sense of humor? You'd be equally misunderstood on the Internet and real life.

I a professor at grad school who was old and dry, teaching an old and dry subject, at 4pm. It was very hard to stay awake. He read his yellowed notes in a monotone voice.

And every once in awhile, he read a joke. It usually took a few seconds for the class to catch on, so delayed laughter was common....

 

[SearchingforPeace]

I know a guy who has worked in online education for 20 years and has studied all the neuroscience of learning and such. He could cite study after study about learning and I found it very fascinating.

He said something that stuck with me, "Ultimately, in person education is far better than online. For long term learning, the drunk frat boy sleeping off a hangover in class will learn long term more than the most conscientious and active online student, fully engaged in all the tools offered. There is just something about being in the presence of the other person."

 

[Coriolis]

: We need to create symbols which we place before what we write which explicitly state our intended tone.

"Explicit" and "tone" don't belong in the same sentence. If you want someone to know your perspective, the only way to avoid misunderstanding is to spell it out as clearly as possible.

Yes, and sometimes people misunderstand sarcasm too but it's easier when you get to see peoples' facial expressions. Another misunderstanding on the internet is we can't see people's age, gender and make assumptions about if they're adults, children or men or women (unless you ask them, I suppose).

Does all this matter that much, especially online?

It’s estimated that in the face to face communication only 10% of information that the person gets are words, about 50% is body language and about 40% tone of the voice. So it’s natural that communication on the internet is more difficult. It’s harder to sense when people are joking, when they are serious , are they sad or happy. Irony is sometimes more difficult to catch.

Hogwash. When I explain to my student how to set up an experiment, or describe the movie I just saw and why I liked it, or present my reasons for voting for candidate B vs. candidate A, I guarantee that if you look at everything but my words you will not be getting 90% of the content. More likely the opposite. This "10% rule" is unsupportable for any real content. if you truly are communicating 90% of your meaning outside of your words, you are probably a mime or some other kind of performer.

 

[Bush]

I a professor at grad school who was old and dry, teaching an old and dry subject, at 4pm. It was very hard to stay awake. He read his yellowed notes in a monotone voice.

And every once in awhile, he read a joke. It usually took a few seconds for the class to catch on, so delayed laughter was common....

Please God do not let me become this professor.

 

[Bush]

Though I don't understand the emoji fad. Even Android Wear has a feature where you can draw lil' emojis with your finger on a screen that's the same size as a watch face. I understand the appeal of being able to append a piece of poo to the end of a sentence; really, I do; [!], but do we need them so on-demand?

 

[SearchingforPeace]

Please God do not let me become this professor.

You are not already?