Emoticons

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Does anyone here tend to use emoticons and the like in such a way that one probably exhibits a lot more "emotion" online than in real life?

For example, quite often I will write something like this:

"I have no idea. *shrugs*"

Yet in real life, if I had no idea, I would say, "I have no idea," but it is very unlikely I would shrug.

I think I learned this behavior because people so often find it a problem that they can't "read emotion" in text the way they would in real life, and I compensate for it even though in real life they might not be able to read my emotions anyway.

In fact, in real life I am not sure how much anyone can tell from my facial expressions - if I am happy or amused I will smile or laugh, but my "neutral" expression is pretty blank and often confuses people. (I often get asked, "What's wrong?" when there is in fact nothing wrong, even by e.g. my own parents.) And while I do smile and laugh I will rarely ever e.g. wink or roll my eyes despite doing so often in emoticons.

Is this the case for others here too?

Constantly. Will usually put the emoticons in afterwards, even.

Or alternatively use them repeatedly within the same sentence without realising them because they have become reflexive.

Such as "lol actually i really like them lol"
If the same conversation occurred in real life I would probably have said "Yes" or suchlike without any laughing/smiling and certainly not out loud!

(I also tend to put exclamation marks around the place if in doubt. I have written many an e-mail to a lecturer or doctor which I later realise has far too many exclamation marks to be taken seriously.)

absolutely. I wish in real life I could just point and click to express emotion instead of having to make such a huge effort!

Sometimes when speaking I will actually put say things like *shrug* even if I do the motion as well. I say far too much internet-speak in real life. It reminds me of a comic where something funny happens and a character says "lol". Now I rarely say lol unless I'm being sarcastic but I've been known to say "for the lulz" from time to time.

I should probably be ashamed of myself, but I'm not

I only use, and only sometimes, emoticons like these:
I don't even understand the other emoticons. For example, this one: Its name is 'confused'. Really? For me it says something like 'I'm fed up with you, shut up'. See, that's why I don't use these thingies.

i never used an emoticon because the standard facial expressions expressed by them do not apply to me.

Wow! When I clicked on this thread, I was thinking about that same emoticon. To me, it shows indifference, or slight annoyance. But it says it's "confused" and I assumed I was the only person who didn't get it. I'm so glad to know I'm not. Maybe it's an Aspie thing? Confusing the facial emotion...

I agree with those above who say the "confused" emoticon is ... well, confusing.

I generally stick with the basic ones.

omgosh love emoticons, in real life my facial expressions and body language are hugely lacking, a lot of times rather blank, its weird or overdone for no apparent reason haha. ur def not alone hehe !

Definitely. You could probably never tell what I'm normally thinking, but emoticons make it easy. Here's how I'm feeling right now: a bit of with a bit of and a little . And , just for no reason.

Of course. Like if I use the winking emoticon ( ), most likely I wouldn't wink if I said whatever I said in real life.

All the time yet I think IRL, my emotions come off a bit flat to people even though I'm experiencing them.....

I agree about the "confused" emoticon. However, what I like about the emoticons on WP is that when you put your mouse there, it tells you, in writing, what emotion is being expressed by the emoticon. When I first saw that, I thought "Wow! I´m home!" I always had trouble with emoticons before- for instance, on my cell phone to write text messages- because sometimes I have trouble knowing what the face is. (I always did the happy or sad faces, they were obvious, but I was too embarrassed to use the others). I use the "confused" emoticon here, as well as many others, because at least I know what it´s supposed to be, as it´s written down.

In real life, I do show emotion, mostly when I´m really excited about what I´m talking about. It´s hard to say if I use more emoticons on WP or not...I guess I never really thought about it before.

By the way- what exactly does "lol" mean? Is this just used on the internet???

It stands for "laugh out loud" but I have never laughed out loud when I type it. I think it is unusual to use it in real life as it stands for a phrase that makes up for a face-to-face expression that cannot be expressed online. But some aspies and engineers and gamers use it in real life either deliberately or accidentally.

In a completely not-serious tone, thank you, earlier poster: I propose wrongplaneters should now use in every post.

It's funny. My boyfriend used to use emoticons all the time in his text messages, and now neither of our phones support them. "Outgrowing emoticons" I guess. But the emoticons made it so much easier to communicate. Now, I misinterpret what he texts all the time. Emoticons made it SO much easier, and he agrees.