Frustrations With Trying to Communicate on the Internet

Ruthanne

Ruthanne

Caregiver
Location
Midwest
I have been going to a few different internet sites and am finding it increasingly hard to communicate with people on the sites. I go to one site for meeting friends and it seems some of the guys don't even read what I write to them and then write back to me asking me the same things I just told them. I don't know if these people too are having a hard time of trying to communicate. I am ready to throw up my hands and stop trying. Maybe trying to make friends via the internet is not for me anymore.

Used to be a person could just go out to a local gathering to meet others but now it's not really possible. :whistle::unsure:;)
 

I've noticed a sorta similar thing on several other sites (not here on SF): you post about something, from a low-key thing like getting stains out of a coffeepot to heavy-duty relationship/family advice and no matter how you list what you've already tried, lots of people will just tell you to try what you've already tried. I've tried every way I can think of--putting an itemized list of what I've already tried at the very end of my orig. post; putting it at the very beginning; putting it in bold; putting it in italics; putting it in all caps; putting it in bold, italics, *and* all caps. But still, people just rattle off back to me what I've already tried. I guess some people only read the title of your post & just dive into replying maybe?
 
Keesha said:
Siri is the voice assistant on Apple devices, equivalent to Amazon's Alexa, Microsoft's Cortana, and Google's Google Assistant. Siri is available across most of Apple's devices, including iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, Apple TV, and HomePod.
Click to expand...
Thanks
 
I read an entire post one day and that was political in nature but I thought it had to do with something completely different and that the political thing was just their particular complaint. So I responded with my complaint and someone told me it was political. *Shrugs*

This one Ruthanne
Are You A Pot Stirrer? | Senior Forums

I thought it was about people who enjoy getting people riled up and to get them to fight and that the OPs first post was about what annoyed him. I didn't realize the whole post had to do with lefts and rights. I never would've responded had I figured that out.
 
Ruthanne said:
I have been going to a few different internet sites and am finding it increasingly hard to communicate with people on the sites. I go to one site for meeting friends and it seems some of the guys don't even read what I write to them and then write back to me asking me the same things I just told them. I don't know if these people too are having a hard time of trying to communicate. I am ready to throw up my hands and stop trying. Maybe trying to make friends via the internet is not for me anymore.

Used to be a person could just go out to a local gathering to meet others but now it's not really possible. :whistle::unsure:;)
Click to expand...

Having been online since 1994, your complaints are quite common -- I have them all the time, happened to me earlier today. People don't really respond to what you've written and it's RIGHT THERE FOR THE ENTIRE WORLD TO SEE, unlike in real life where people can accuse someone of saying something they didn't, and there's nothing to go on but memory.

The lack of voice inflections, language nuances, facial expressions, etc. are also a big reason for misunderstandings in this sterile environment. We do them all the time without even realizing it IRL, and they matter.

Supposedly this is why they invented smileys back in the '90s. They do help, at least to some degree. ;)
 
officerripley said:
I've noticed a sorta similar thing on several other sites (not here on SF): you post about something, from a low-key thing like getting stains out of a coffeepot to heavy-duty relationship/family advice and no matter how you list what you've already tried, lots of people will just tell you to try what you've already tried. I've tried every way I can think of--putting an itemized list of what I've already tried at the very end of my orig. post; putting it at the very beginning; putting it in bold; putting it in italics; putting it in all caps; putting it in bold, italics, *and* all caps. But still, people just rattle off back to me what I've already tried. I guess some people only read the title of your post & just dive into replying maybe?
Click to expand...
I hear you and think you are right.
 
MarciKS said:
I read an entire post one day and that was political in nature but I thought it had to do with something completely different and that the political thing was just their particular complaint. So I responded with my complaint and someone told me it was political. *Shrugs*

This one Ruthanne
Are You A Pot Stirrer? | Senior Forums

I thought it was about people who enjoy getting people riled up and to get them to fight and that the OPs first post was about what annoyed him. I didn't realize the whole post had to do with lefts and rights. I never would've responded had I figured that out.
Click to expand...
Yes, I understand.
 
Old Dummy said:
Having been online since 1994, your complaints are quite common -- I have them all the time, happened to me earlier today. People don't really respond to what you've written and it's RIGHT THERE FOR THE ENTIRE WORLD TO SEE, unlike in real life where people can accuse someone of saying something they didn't, and there's nothing to go on but memory.

The lack of voice inflections, language nuances, facial expressions, etc. are also a big reason for misunderstandings in this sterile environment. We do them all the time without even realizing it IRL, and they matter.

Supposedly this is why they invented smileys back in the '90s. They do help, at least to some degree. ;)
Click to expand...
Yes, so true and I'm actually getting weary trying to deal with the internet and all the problems it involves. Smileys do help some I agree.
 
MarciKS said:
You are not the only one. And the internet is not the only place I have trouble communicating and being understood. People are not paying attention anymore. They are skimming. That's all we're worth is a tid bit of the convo. That's what they run with.
Click to expand...
I think that's true. Maybe there will still be those who take the time to try and pay more attention. I think we are worth more than that.
 
MarciKS said:
I read an entire post one day and that was political in nature but I thought it had to do with something completely different and that the political thing was just their particular complaint. So I responded with my complaint and someone told me it was political. *Shrugs*

This one Ruthanne
Are You A Pot Stirrer? | Senior Forums

I thought it was about people who enjoy getting people riled up and to get them to fight and that the OPs first post was about what annoyed him. I didn't realize the whole post had to do with lefts and rights. I never would've responded had I figured that out.
Click to expand...
I see this a lot, too, that people will respond to a post title and not the entire content of the OP.
 
Keesha said:
Siri is the voice assistant on Apple devices, equivalent to Amazon's Alexa, Microsoft's Cortana, and Google's Google Assistant. Siri is available across most of Apple's devices, including iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, Apple TV, and HomePod.
Click to expand...
Is there an English version of this post, Keesha? Alexa, Microwotsit, Cortana ( wasn't that a European car that Ford made?) Apple watch. What is this gobble-de-gook?
 
MarciKS said:
You are not the only one. And the internet is not the only place I have trouble communicating and being understood. People are not paying attention anymore. They are skimming. That's all we're worth is a tid bit of the convo. That's what they run with.
Click to expand...
You're right! They (we) skim, pick out a few words and are already forming a witty remark in their mind instead of reading and trying to understand what was written.
 
Gaer said:
You're right! They (we) skim, pick out a few words and are already forming a witty remark in their mind instead of reading and trying to understand what was written.
Click to expand...
Yep~
 

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