[fullmoon]

I’m surprised that so many people can tickle their social itch over the internet.

There is nothing about the dynamics involved that I’d consider social.

Interaction is mostly with total strangers, almost always in text form (no subtext, no facial expression, no body language).

Comments are written at people, not to people — to illicit support for one’s position or condemnation of the opposing one.

Social networks : Being social = Sock : Loving spouse

[em-bee]

because that's the place where i can find people who actually share my interests.

as nice as the neighbors are, i really don't care to discuss weather or local politics or whatever. on the other hand, i made a number of friends online over shared interests.

of course, one doesn't preclude the other, but both forms can be fulfilling if done well. but finding local friends is just so much harder, especially in the last three years.

[magicalhippo]

> Interaction is mostly with total strangers

My online social interaction is mostly with people I've talked to daily for years, sometimes decades. Most of them I've had close personal talks with. While I haven't met most of them face to face, they're certainly not strangers.

> almost always in text form (no subtext, no facial expression, no body language)

While most of my online social interactions is via text, some is via speech. TeamSpeak was common before but more niche, Discord is making it very convenient so more general these days. That said, I'd say you can express a lot through text, but it's a different art perhaps.

I sorta grew up on newsgroups and IRC. While it's nice meeting people in person, I can certainly fill most of my social quota via Discord or similar these days.

Thinking more about it, I think the key difference is that what I enjoy is the content of the talk, not how it's performed (ie body language etc).

[paganel]

It's mostly because on the Internet you can self-select (sort of) your topic of discussion and your "social" circles.

In real life it would be difficult to have a "fight" and a discussion over public transportation or some random history subject, because, presumably, your friends from real life are not that interested in those subjects. But if you are interested in those subjects you most probably frequent places on the internet that discuss them, hence the fights and the discussions.

[qwery]

On the other hand, the interaction is mostly with total strangers and is almost always in text form. Most of the time you don't even have to see their faces!

(also I don't understand why there wouldn't be subtext)

[fullmoon]

Do you mean this one? Please explain, I don’t understand what you’ve meant with the first part of your response.

The subtext that’s missing is how something is said: The sarcastic tone, sing-song intonation, the short pause, the smirk, the small sentence that turns into a little rant, curtness, an abrupt ending, the barely suppressed yawns, crossed arms, smiling eyes.

I think most importantly, a direct, face-to-face, breathed air-to-breathed air conversation is vulnerable, you’re communicating much more than you ever could in textual form, and you immediately get feedback how what you’ve said is perceived, you might try a different approach, and say something you’ve never intended to do whilst in the flow.