chang|e one’s mind

i love facebook status updates.  i love how you can comment on them and zing people or post up a witty comment right under theirs.  for instance (this is a true story):

friend 1 (status update): i can see clearly now

friend 2 (comment): is it because the rain is gone?

friend 3 (comment): can you see all obstacles in your way?

i thought that was pretty witty.  i like it when people are sharp and quick like that.

sometimes, however, i try to post something humorous as my status update and people don’t get it, or people think i’m serious.  or maybe it’s just that they’re joking too and i think they’re serious.  hmmm…  i think i have a problem with that.  i can never tell when people are joking or being serious, so i just give them the benefit of the doubt and think that they’re serious.  it’s a lot harder online.  you can’t really sense the tone of a statement via a text, or instant message.  so it’s hard to know when people are joking or not.  here are my tips to letting people know if you’re joking or not:

emote!! – emoticons are essential for adding emotion and tone to your words.  for instance: “you look so ugly,” versus, “you look so ugly “  the first one, you could take offense to that.  the second one, it’s like, oh, he or she was joking, look, there’s the tongue sticking out at me to let me know they didn’t mean it.

CAPS MEANS YELLING! – if you’re really angry, don’t just type, “i’m really angry right now!!!!”  that’s kind of toned down.  instead, you can type, “I’M REALLY ANGRY RIGHT NOW!!!!”  now that’s anger.  you know that person is angry.

j/k’s go a long way – if you’re not going to stick the tongue out at someone or a winky face or smiley face, the least you can do is add a “j/k” at the end of your statement.  let’s go back to the first example: “you’re so ugly” versus “you’re so ugly, j/k!”  that j/k is crucial here.  sometimes i wait for a j/k that never comes and i think “oh, it wasn’t a joke…”

so you see, there are ways to let people know you’re joking or serious, or angry, or whatever.  or maybe i’m just too electronically sensitive.  actually, i probably am.  but you should probably understand that electronic sensitivity just in case there are people out there that take offense easily.