ONLINE
In online conversations, those interactive computer klatches, folks
thousands of miles apart can chat via keyboard and monitor, making
friends, flirting, debating issues of the day, and trading gossip.
But something's missing: the visual cues and vocal inflections that
communicate emotion. To compensate, and make cyberchat more personal,
online conversationalists rely on emotions, or "smilies." Emotions
combine punctuation marks and symbols into miniature sideways faces that
reveal the user's mood or meaning. Adding :-) to the end of a sentence,
for instance, lets others know you're joking or feeling cheerful. (Turn
the magazine 90 degrees clockwise if you don't get it.) Tongue-tied?
Enter :-& to alert your peers.
Cybershrink Anna Nelson, a grad student at the University of
Southern California, says emotions are interesting beyond their use as
emotional signposts--they shed light on how we use symbols in other
realms. And the government is said to be exploring their value as secret
codes.
But emotions are primarily a social phenomenon. Nelson says that
folks over 30 use them most. Twenty-somethings aren't quite as enamored
of the symbols, while teens seem especially interested in inventing new
ones.
Just as in-person yawns and smiles can be contagious, so can
emotions. In a series of covert experiments, Nelson joined an online
discussion group and said nothing for ten minutes. At that point,
regardless of the conversation's content, she typed:) and watched how
others reacted. The result? More smiles than an Osmond family reunion.
Use of other emotions increased too. Nelson says emotions use is highest
in "meet and greet" situations, where strangers get to know each other.
"If you appear approachable," Nelson says,"you tend to make friends
faster."
CONCEPT METAPHOR FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE
To understand is to see Am I making myself clear?
Get the picture?
Let me point it out to you
A relationship is up We're at a crossroads
We're going our separate
ways
Happiness is up I'm on top of the world
Things are looking up
That boosted my spirits
Sadness is down My spirits sank
I'm feeling kinda down
I fell into a depression
Tags:
chat room,
conversations,
debating issues,
emotion,
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grad student,
interactive computer,
Internet,
online,
online discussion group,
osmond family reunion,
person yawns,
punctuation marks,
signposts,
social phenomenon,
symbol,
university of southern california,
visual cues,
vocal inflections
