Current Events > It's crazy how the generation that grew up with the internet

(+) Yeah! (+)

Takes things on the Internet so literally. Like gen Z and some milennials don't understand sarcasm at all. Maybe it's because they're having less face to face interactions and part of sarcasm is the delivery itself?

Sarcasm can be very hit and miss in text. But there are cases where it should be blatantly obvious.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]


Poe's Law as well. Sometimes it's hard to distinguish parody from seriousness.

A certain user around here (Billyionaire) is a perfect example.

i hate the idea of having to put "/s" after jokes

It's because the world has gotten crazy to the point where things said sarcastically are also said without sarcasm.

Maybe we do need to invent sarcasm detectors.

It is just tough for me to detect even in person

Dancedreamer posted...

It's because the world has gotten crazy to the point where things said sarcastically are also said without sarcasm.

I find it safer to assume that people aren't trolling, because God knows there are enough people who are genuinely that stupid and obnoxious and aren't just acting the part.

The generation that grew up with the internet knows how to use it the least as well. It's bizarre.

There's been this idea of taking sarcasm and jokes at face value, somehow because they're jokes. Or how Sokka's sexism is shown as wrong and something for him to develop over, but complaining about the removal in the adaptation somehow means you support sexism.

It's a mental, tribal trap: Not wanting bad things around turns into actively wanting there to be bad things, specifically to have a target to fire at.

Oh look, another topic scolding millenials and Gen Z for being almost as bad online as older generations.

Vampire_Chicken posted...

I find it safer to assume that people aren't trolling, because God knows there are enough people who are genuinely that stupid and obnoxious and aren't just acting the part.

And some go from just trolling to genuinely believing the crap they peddle. The far-right brain rot is real, and it's best to cut that cancer out before it turns malignant, let alone metastatic.

A lot of people incapable of conveying a sarcastic tone still attempt to do sarcasm through text

Vyrulisse posted...

The generation that grew up with the internet knows how to use it the least as well. It's bizarre.

When we grew up, the internet was sort of naturally gatekept. You needed to know how to do things to engage in any special interests. Game server connection wasn't an automated process by default, and special interests not popular in your geographical culture were something you had to really had to dig deep for online. Now everything is automated and streamlined and shoved in your face, bloated, full of crap, letting the lowest common denominators flood your forums and ask "HOW I MINE 4 FISH" ad nauseam.

Dark_Arbron posted...

Sarcasm can be very hit and miss in text.

This. Sarcasm is the art of delivery, not just the ability to pick up on it.

mario2000 posted...

Maybe we do need to invent sarcasm detectors.

https://youtu.be/EZ73Q4DwrGM?si=MJXSVZw1cv00onjV

A lot of people overestimate their ability to use sarcasm.

The fault often lies in the delivery.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

The problem is, once people believe the misinformation, confirmation bias keeps them from learning anything else. They just see the information that affirms their established beliefs

It doesn't help that it's become way too common for people to disingenuously use "It's a joke" as a shield against any criticism of whatever toxic beliefs they want to spread. Like they might spread white supremacist talking points and claim they were joking if anyone calls them on it, but you'll never hear them sincerely express an opposing belief.

Sarcasm got tough to identify online after all of the shitposting introduced post 2016, so it's w/e

Know your audience and don't whine about it

"ackshually it's extremely hard to tell sarcasm in text"

No it's not. Sarcasm and satire have been popular in writing for literal thousands of years. Only in the last 10 years did we need to start writing /s.

I think reddit in particular made it popular in large part because of the upvote/downvote system. Which usually runs on momentum and the first few downvotes or upvotes decide whether everyone else will upvote/downvote. And so people write /s to be safe because if some idiot misreads the comment then it could get downvoted to oblivion.

Strategic use of all caps used to be a sarcasm indicator but that seems to have been lost.

Something like

"Oh wow that's SO incredible..."

Kuuko posted...

No it's not. Sarcasm and satire have been popular in writing for literal thousands of years. Only in the last 10 years did we need to start writing

It's true that they've been popular in writing for forever, but internet forums have only been around for a few decades, and different mediums have different nuances.

Have you considered being actually funny

When your inundation at such a young age is the internet you think it is all true without a shred of doing your own research, on the damn internet!!! There was this somewhat elaborate Tom Petty is Dead hoax in the later 90s. But you knew he was alive......

Not a great example but someone will say eat this and it'll cure that and ppl be like okay. I need clicks and followers.

Kuuko posted...

"ackshually it's extremely hard to tell sarcasm in text"

No it's not. Sarcasm and satire have been popular in writing for literal thousands of years. Only in the last 10 years did we need to start writing /s.

I think reddit in particular made it popular in large part because of the upvote/downvote system. Which usually runs on momentum and the first few downvotes or upvotes decide whether everyone else will upvote/downvote. And so people write /s to be safe because if some idiot misreads the comment then it could get downvoted to oblivion.

Irony requires two channels of communication: words and intent. In person, you can simultaneously send two signals, while text requires context as the second channel.

Punctuation like /s has been suggested for centuries.

I do think that people have become worse at detecting sarcasm. Maybe because text is becoming a bigger part of communication. Maybe communities are larger and "this is ironic" signals are getting washed out. Maybe just a shift in culture that finds sarcasm distasteful, so they don't assume sarcasm as often. Who knows.

People have always had trouble with sarcasm and satire, it was just easier to miss that when we weren't able to communicate so easily.

JoeDangIt posted...

People have always had trouble with sarcasm and satire, it was just easier to miss that when we weren't able to communicate so easily.

That's not the entire issue though.

If I say "Donald Trump LOVES the US."
Am I being sarcastic? Or do I really believe that?

Part of the problem is that what would have been obvious parody or sarcasm in the past is now unironically the beliefs that some people hold.

This I always want to type something insightful. But I don't know which way to go, (Scoob) heh. The internet kicked so much ass in the early 2000s though I was bullied a tiny bit on a New Found Glory fan website lmao anyhow then like it just took off so fast with smart phones.

I didn't use like bbs/use net but I was on Netscape. Used AOL too.

Kuuko posted...

"ackshually it's extremely hard to tell sarcasm in text"

No it's not. Sarcasm and satire have been popular in writing for literal thousands of years. Only in the last 10 years did we need to start writing /s.

I think reddit in particular made it popular in large part because of the upvote/downvote system. Which usually runs on momentum and the first few downvotes or upvotes decide whether everyone else will upvote/downvote. And so people write /s to be safe because if some idiot misreads the comment then it could get downvoted to oblivion.

Its 100% reddits fault. Even if you say "ph no i was joking", the pissed off 14 year old bullying victims will yell at you and say you are a liar. Like okay so the thing you dont like is serious but me saying no im joking is a lie??? The killing joke ladies and gentleman

TheMaddenDude posted...

Takes things on the Internet so literally. Like gen Z and some milennials don't understand sarcasm at all. Maybe it's because they're having less face to face interactions and part of sarcasm is the delivery itself?

Oh hey, you made it to CE. Congrats.

Voidgolem posted...

Have you considered being actually funny

Exactly. Sarcasm ranks among the lowest forms of humor.

Am here I wanted to rank the merits and demerits of the internet. I bid you good day sir/madam.

Dark_Arbron posted...

Sarcasm can be very hit and miss in text. But there are cases where it should be blatantly obvious.

This, losing tone of voice and body language is huge.

TheMaddenDude posted...

Takes things on the Internet so literally. Like gen Z and some milennials don't understand sarcasm at all. Maybe it's because they're having less face to face interactions and part of sarcasm is the delivery itself?

It's because they are socially stunted. The internet and social media has literally harmed their mental development.
Gen Z can't even use Google properly.

mario2000 posted...

Maybe we do need to invent sarcasm detectors.

I try to tune my sarcometer at least once a week.

Its always been pretty easy for me to tell, but I use sarcasm a lot and joke a lot so I guess Im just looking for it.

I'll make an obvious dad joke at a restaurant and laugh at it to demonstrate that it's just a joke and waiters will more often than not take things literally and the joke will completely fly over their heads.

Dancedreamer posted...

It's because the world has gotten crazy to the point where things said sarcastically are also said without sarcasm.

This and considering a good chunk of Trumpers are old, yeah the younger generation aren't the only ones prone to believing things hastily.

Or they've heard the same joke 10 times during their shift.

Everything got too crazy too fast. Bad Religion wrote a song about I love my Computer in the late 90s on an only average album but it really does have some hits.

Social culture is just I click and it will go away. No thought process.