Sometimes it's difficult to interpret words we read on a screen. This can even happen when words are spoken, but is even more prevalent when read, I find.
From experiences I've had and ones I've heard about, mood seems to dictate interpretation. While feelings may have been shared in an e-mail or an instant message, it can be like reading text from a character in a book. While the words may provoke emotion, where the feelings reside is within ourselves.
There is no voice with the words that can be heard. If one is crying, we cannot hear and feel that. While one may type something like ::crying:: and that may be somewhat saddening to read, it does not carry with it the same empathetic impact as actually hearing or seeing a person cry. This is why I find the concept of cybersex to be so silly. How can someone actually get aroused through that? If someone messaged me with some dirty lingo, attempting to hit on me in cyberspace, I'm sure I'd bust out laughing.
Depending upon if a person is sad, angry, confused, content, shy, hyper or whatever mood they're in at that moment, they may interpret what I write differently. This has gotten me into trouble at times, especially through e-mails. Because as opposed to face-to-face or telephone conversations, where people can ask questions on the spot to hopefully clear away any misunderstanding, this can't be done via e-mail. Two people may write one another thinking about completely different things and may be on completely different wavelengths when writing their e-mail and reading the other's. A male may ask the female to hang out sometime, with the intent being to just hang out. The female may then take this as a date and happily accept. They then may write back and forth with completely different visions of their date/hang-out session. This will cause problems when that day arrives, where either one party will be content and the other disappointed or they will need to make up for the previous week's misunderstandings, ask questions, understand one another's intentions and the situation at hand, and hopefully reach a healthy compromise where both parties can enjoy their time together. It would've been much easier to have conversed over the telephone, where any misunderstandings could have been discussed right then and there, as opposed to allowing things to build for an entire week, where the anticipation and hopes (especially of the female) came to a crashing halt.
The online world is a nice form of communication, especially for those whom may live rather far away from yourself. But when it comes to the locals, it's important to be careful with one's wording and to make sure that there aren't any misunderstandings. Because of that, it may be better to just stick with the phone for the locals.
From experiences I've had and ones I've heard about, mood seems to dictate interpretation. While feelings may have been shared in an e-mail or an instant message, it can be like reading text from a character in a book. While the words may provoke emotion, where the feelings reside is within ourselves.
There is no voice with the words that can be heard. If one is crying, we cannot hear and feel that. While one may type something like ::crying:: and that may be somewhat saddening to read, it does not carry with it the same empathetic impact as actually hearing or seeing a person cry. This is why I find the concept of cybersex to be so silly. How can someone actually get aroused through that? If someone messaged me with some dirty lingo, attempting to hit on me in cyberspace, I'm sure I'd bust out laughing.
Depending upon if a person is sad, angry, confused, content, shy, hyper or whatever mood they're in at that moment, they may interpret what I write differently. This has gotten me into trouble at times, especially through e-mails. Because as opposed to face-to-face or telephone conversations, where people can ask questions on the spot to hopefully clear away any misunderstanding, this can't be done via e-mail. Two people may write one another thinking about completely different things and may be on completely different wavelengths when writing their e-mail and reading the other's. A male may ask the female to hang out sometime, with the intent being to just hang out. The female may then take this as a date and happily accept. They then may write back and forth with completely different visions of their date/hang-out session. This will cause problems when that day arrives, where either one party will be content and the other disappointed or they will need to make up for the previous week's misunderstandings, ask questions, understand one another's intentions and the situation at hand, and hopefully reach a healthy compromise where both parties can enjoy their time together. It would've been much easier to have conversed over the telephone, where any misunderstandings could have been discussed right then and there, as opposed to allowing things to build for an entire week, where the anticipation and hopes (especially of the female) came to a crashing halt.
The online world is a nice form of communication, especially for those whom may live rather far away from yourself. But when it comes to the locals, it's important to be careful with one's wording and to make sure that there aren't any misunderstandings. Because of that, it may be better to just stick with the phone for the locals.
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