Reading comments in different communities, I noticed that users hardly leave smilies. Why is that?

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  • @cerement@slrpnk.net
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    10911 months ago

    second a few other comments, a lot of people conflating emoticons and emojis

    • emoticon: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
    • emoji: 🤷
    • emoticon: =>^.^<=
    • emoji: 🐱
  • Scrubbles
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    6911 months ago

    For me emoticons were something that started when all of the boomers came to Facebook. Floods and floods of useless emojis left and right. So now I feel weird using them, like I’m cheapening the platform while also acting like the people that ruined Facebook for me

    • @Dave@lemmy.nz
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      5711 months ago

      Are emojis considered emoticons? Call me old but I think this is an emoticon ;-) and this is an emoji 😉

      • @ambiance@beehaw.org
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        711 months ago

        Agreed! Although the little image things on message boards like phpBB, ProBoards and Invision were also emoticons, even though they were basically early onset emojis

    • Sabata11792
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      1711 months ago

      Emoticons are old internet. Emojis are boomer, normie, and corpo friendly translations.

            • @slacktoid@lemmy.ml
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              111 months ago

              I know my one professor used punch cards and worked on some of the data structures. But it was people who cared about how tech worked.

        • @Poik@pawb.social
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          311 months ago

          Most boomers I know still can’t use a mouse. Millennials and gen X fill most of the old Internet in my mind, but the original '91 Internet was a lot of tech focused boomers, but also was significantly Gen X. '95-'99 seemed to pick up more traction with my generation.

          • AFK BRB Chocolate
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            211 months ago

            I think it’s sample bias. I graduated with a CS degree in 85 and started working as a software engineer in aerospace. It was pretty much all boomers when I started.

            There might be more people from later generations who grew up doing their homework on computers, so the disparity between tech folks and non-tech folks in those later generations seems less, but the Internet was mostly created by boomer tech people.

            I’m the senior manager of the organization I started in in 85, and I still have boomers working for me.

    • @Slow@lemmy.todayOP
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      711 months ago

      I have a negative attitude to standard emoticons built into Android and iOS. They don’t look good, they’re too many.

      I’m interested to know who uses emoticons depicting, for example, player rewind icons or rectangular shapes. Are there people who use these emoticons at least once a year?

          • @thanks_shakey_snake@lemmy.ca
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            311 months ago

            Could just look like this. It’s a dumb little stopwatch app I made some time ago to explain a different concept. All it uses is plain HTML, CSS, and Javascript. Because I could use emojis as icons, I didn’t need to bring in a separate icon pack.

            If I didn’t have access to emojis at all, I probably would have just used text only… But if I’m prototyping an app that I’m building for someone else, it helps make it look closer to the real thing, and that’s kinda nice.

        • @Slow@lemmy.todayOP
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          011 months ago

          Hmm… Then wouldn’t it be logical on the part of mobile OS developers to make the extended set of emoticons hidden by default and enabled through system settings? Or make an extended set of smileys as an app that can be installed through the app directory?

          • @thanks_shakey_snake@lemmy.ca
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            311 months ago

            Maybe! The MacOS emoji picker actually does this: You can choose which categories to include or omit, and set favorites… And not all of them are enabled by default. No reason phone keyboards couldn’t do the same thing. MacOS calls most of what we’d consider “emojis” to be one category though, lol… So that wouldn’t actually solve the problem. But it’s possible.

            Installing them like an app wouldn’t really be a thing though-- Emojis are part of Unicode, which means they’re essentially text characters. You wouldn’t want to omit those from the system entirely, because if they appear in text, you still want to be able to render them. Kind of like… You might not need (or want) a convenient way to write an “é,” but it’d be annoying if somebody wrote “the appetizers were good, but the entrée was just okay” and you saw “entr�e” because you didn’t have the right app installed.

            Personally, I’d rather have access to everything and just use search to find the one I want, but it might be nice to have the option to omit categories that you aren’t interested in.

  • Lvxferre
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    11 months ago

    My hypothesis: Lemmy has an older userbase, and in general older people feel less of a need to express their emotions. They’re busier discussing the topic than highlighting their attitude towards it.

    Perhaps cultural reinforcement plays a role, too. As emoticons and emojis are less used, they feel more out of place, so people who’d use them elsewhere avoid them here.

    • Maestro
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      2211 months ago

      My 80 old father-in-law spams emoticons like he’s a 15 year old girl. Cringe-worthy and hillarious at the same time 😂

      • @TangledHyphae@lemmy.world
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        311 months ago

        I have stopped contacting family members because the constant emoji spam kills all desire to have a conversation with them. Feels like empty meaningless chatter.

    • @PilferJynx@lemmy.world
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      1111 months ago

      I only use emoticons to clarify an emotional message. On forums, I’m more interested in sharing and discussing ideas and opinions. Emoticon spam makes me sick with worthless cringe.

    • @Fizz@lemmy.nz
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      711 months ago

      I use emojis only because my phone suggests them at the end of sentences 🙃

  • AFK BRB Chocolate
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    5011 months ago

    Personally I feel like if I need to use one, then I’ve done a poor job of writing.

    I guess the other component is that I write a lot at work (I’m an engineering manager) and emoticons aren’t really appropriate for that kind of communication, so I’m not in the habit of using them.

    • @i_stole_ur_taco@lemmy.ca
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      2211 months ago

      What kind of engineering manager isn’t using a dramatic shrug emoji or emoticon dozens of times every day?!

      Don’t tell me your team has their shit together.

      • AFK BRB Chocolate
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        1011 months ago

        I prefer to walk to their desks and make the expressions and gestures in person.

    • @shartedchocolate@lemmy.world
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      1211 months ago

      😂 what!? I’ve worked with 11 engineering managers and they’ve all used emojis. You’re either not in software or you work for a bank/insurance.

      • AFK BRB Chocolate
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        811 months ago

        Not sure what to tell you, I’m the senior manager for software engineering in a company that makes rocket engines, solid rocket motors, and space electrical power systems. I’ve been working there for 38 years and emojis are pretty rare.

    • @pistachio@lemmy.ml
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      11 months ago

      In msn messenger emoticons were what emojis are today. So to me emoticons and emojis are the same… i dont what to call the things op refers to… maybe ASCII emoticons?

      Edit: turns out im wrong https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emoticon

      Edit: sort of wrong… emojis are also officially called emoticons

      • @indepndnt@lemmy.world
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        1711 months ago

        It probably doesn’t help that a lot of things will take your emoticons and automatically convert them into emojis for you. Like you type :-) and it changes it to 🙂 without even asking. I’ve run into this in a lot of chat clients.

    • Ook the Librarian
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      311 months ago

      Yeah, I’m confused. I do use emoticons and I rarely use emojis. What half of that is relevant here?

      • @SorteKanin@feddit.dk
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        211 months ago

        In some ways no, but communication is complicated. Emoticons and emojis feel different when used I feel like. :) and 🙂 is not the same.

        They’re also used by different generations of people I think. So in that way it is meaningful to talk about them as separate concepts.

  • @Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    4311 months ago

    All these people singing the praises of emoticons over emojis, and not a single XD to be seen. I know you’re old enough to remember the XD times! XD you cowards!

    • @Godric@lemmy.world
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      511 months ago

      I like to throw it around sometimes, especially when I need to soften a statement or when someone says something so stupid I can’t help but laugh XD

  • Melllvar
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    4011 months ago

    Emoticons are like swear words.

    I use them sparingly not because I disapprove of them, but to preserve their effectiveness.

    • TaldenNZ
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      511 months ago

      I have been sparing the almighty hell out of mine. When they drop it will be epic.

  • @Alexstarfire@lemmy.world
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    3311 months ago

    Just for you

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  • @AzureInfinity@leminal.space
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    3111 months ago

    I find them obnoxius, just like inserting animated gifs and meme responses. If used in serious context it makes the whole post look cringe, using them to replace words is fit only for smartphone troglodytes sending character-limited posts/SMS.

    • Victor
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      1311 months ago

      I use them as a complement in my messages where I want to convey an emotion which isn’t obvious from the text itself. Like if I’m being self-deprecating in a joking manner, e.g. Not very easy to convey in text. But if I add some kind of smiling-ish emoji or something, it’s clearer that I’m not serious.

      Overuse is cringe however.

      • @AzureInfinity@leminal.space
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        111 months ago

        If something isn’t obvious from the text, why not change the /style/ of writing instead of appending dissonant graphics? Make it obviously sarcastic or humorous, instead of leaving the users guessing if its satire or sincere expression.

        • Victor
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          911 months ago

          Not everyone is good at that type of thing. 🙃

  • qaz
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    2611 months ago

    People on Reddit rarely did, and I feel like this behavior has spread to Lemmy.

    • TheMurphy
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      411 months ago

      True, it’s basically culture.

      I use them for texts but never for Lemmy or reddit.