Anyone else get a bad vibe from how everyone on Twitter uses gifs to react to stuff?

submitted by [deleted] from self.whatever

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[–][deleted] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (9 children)

...How? A picture is worth a thousand words. More, actually. We often lack the words, however expressive, to concisely convey emotion or information. Meanwhile our ability to interpret visual cues is a hundred million years ahead of our ability to process writing. It is entirely natural, and stands to reason, people would augment expressiveness with pictures given the opportunity.

Contrary to your claim, this is expressing MORE than people ordinarily do online. Not less.

[–][deleted] 7 insightful - 1 fun7 insightful - 0 fun8 insightful - 1 fun -  (8 children)

Because it isn't your own expression. For normal social interaction the way we were evolved to have, it's not enough to just know how you're supposed to feel but also have the ability to express that yourself. That ability to express an emotion or reaction yourself is also a big part of what makes people individuals. It lacks authenticity. I'm someone who runs the other way from fake social interaction in real life as well which i guess helps to explain why people may find this so much more acceptable than me. They're used to having frequent fake social interactions in real life too.

[–][deleted] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (7 children)

Except it is your own expression. You are the one selecting what format that expression takes from a whole internet and possible ranges of expression. It is no different from claiming that, because a word already exists, using it means it isn't YOUR word. The two here are synonymous, and I believe your complaint is irrational by that same analogy.

[–][deleted] 6 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 0 fun7 insightful - 1 fun -  (5 children)

It's called "expressing yourself" not "expressing someone else" lmao. Is there a tiny tiny tiny bit of self expression in your selection of which gif to use? Sure. I think you're really just used to people being very fake in your everyday interactions.

[–][deleted] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (4 children)

I think you've just surrendered. Instead of being able to defend your idea by explaining why the analogy might not be apt, you've chosen to attack my character instead. My analogy still stands, it's no different from selecting a prior existing word. Also, my argument that it's better than using words still stands.

[–][deleted] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

When the point was very uncompelling in the first place I don't see the the purpose in addressing it. People are either not retarded and can see on their own that your point was uncompelling. Or they are retarded and not worth trying to convince.

[–][deleted] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

Ah, I see. Sadly us mere mortals have to suffice with things like "reason" and "evidence" to come to our conclusions.

[–][deleted] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

It's just more likely that you and another person will think to use the same gif as a response than choosing the same exact 280 characters worth of words. Using gifs seems like a good way to engage without actually letting people learn anything about you. It's impersonal af. If you're anyways going to do that, why engage at all?

[–][deleted] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

It's a dismissal. If it were in words, it would still be a dismissal. Text is literally as impersonal as it gets. You have strange hangups about this. My advice? Stop using fucking Twitter.

[–]suckitreddit 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Except it is your own expression. You are the one selecting what format that expression takes from a whole internet and possible ranges of expression. It is no different from claiming that, because a word already exists, using it means it isn't YOUR word. The two here are synonymous, and I believe your complaint is irrational by that same analogy.

In defense of Anon4392, sending someone a gif as a response could be seen as using a quote. But what if someone only used quotes to respond to people? Is that self-expression? Sort of, but not really. It's obvious that people like originality of thought, and don't want to give their own two cents. But sending a gif is barely self-expression. It's an expression, not self-expression.