Does the Internet Cause You Misunderstandings?

Hi AmbiePam, The only time this really happens is on msn because I think some people find it hard to tell if your being cheeky or not. People often type without emotion so it's hard to tell, so I always try to write with as much emotion as possible. I have met a lot of great people here that I care about and feel luck to have as friends. That's why I call people hun, sweet, and other pet names so they know I care. I also always sign off to my friends with love and hugzz. Some people may think that's too much or over the top, but it's me take it or leave it! Love & Hugzz, Your Friend, PurpleTeddyBear!

I'm currently going to school online. It absolutely amazes me how, whats the word, ok fine STUPID people are especially when they are paying lots of money to go to school online. The worst part is that what they question and they don't understand could easily be figured out if they took 5 seconds to read! I think that's part of the problem with something like mylot. People don't read your discussions. I started one about whether you thought you'd survive if your life turned into a horror movie. I started it with "hypothetically speaking" and ended it with a post script saying that this was not meant to be about real life horror... only movie horror. The first response was by someone talking about her recent car accident horror. HELLO did you read what I said at all!? Then I wonder, does anyone know what Hypothetically means? Should I dumb down my speach since a lot of folks aren't English speaking? I really think that it's not necessarily just because they didn't "understand" what it was that you said... but they also just didn't bother to READ what it was that you said. Fortunately in school the fact that people can't read and figure things out hasn't started any fights yet... but it's annoyed me greatly and gotten them a few bad grades that they can't seem to understand! I think people just don't read anymore.

I can understand how the Internet could cause misunderstandings. You need to be able to feel the emotion behind certain discussions. I've been lucky so far and never had a fight or anything, but I've had to clarify things a few times. My sister has had a hard time with a few of her discussions about our dad. People just don't always understand or grasp what you're trying to convey to them through words alone. Sometimes it can be such a passionate subject that you can easily forget that people don't always know the whole story or the background information.

Yes, I have expereinced this before, especially in e-mail. In fact just this past week at work I had that happen to me. Luckily though I had CC the e-mail to my office manager and she knew what I was saying and understood completely, but the receiving end clearly misunderstood what I had sent which was apparent to the comment that she replied with and sent to her office manager that in turn sent it to my office manager. So words can be misunderstood easily and taken out of context.

Yep several times. I even posted a discussion on it when I finally got some face time on mylot. It happens and sometimes some people take it too far, other times people don't know what they've really typed. At least take a breath and look at it from both perspectives especially if its between friends and family on the net.

Hi Ambie I hope it wasn't me.lol Yeah it happen to me also, but I know probably why.Because my english is not the perfect so people might not understand what I wanted to say, or also I have different kind sense of humor like other people.Like my partner he is american and he would tell me joke and I wouldn't laugh, becuase is not funny for me.Also I would tell him joke and he would look at me like I am crazy.It can be sometimes funny, how the sense of humor can be different. But also misunderstanding can be cause by this too...with writing we cannot really explain our emotions, I mean the people just can take it other way, how we really ment it.Something can be funny for me, but it could make somebody else mad.But isn't it also by the personality???Beucause if somebody is optimistic he/she would not try to cause fight from the situation but take it better optimistic way. (Uff this was hard to explain what I mean, hope you undertand it and not misunderstood it)

my dear ambie, I think that this is due to many reasons. First there are many non English native speaking people here (I am one of them!!!) and therefore a foreign language can be easily misunderstood. Moreover, there are people who happen to add a comment just to increase their money and so they don't pay really attention either to what they write themselves or to what the author of the discussion wrote. Another reason maybe that we are always on such a hurry..I mean, we hardly have time for ourselves. So it may happen that people come to mylot just to take a break between a duty and another and just have a fast reading therefore misreading something. I think these may be good explanations to some mistakes of this kind that I experienced, too. But I am sure you can agree with me if I say that it is really bad when it happens in real life. I mean it is very painful when the person that misunderstand you is one who you love very much and who is supposed to love you or know you..it is hard when they deliberately misunderstand you when you are there speaking to them with your eyes full of feelings and care ..this is bad, indeed

This has happened to me a few times. But, my friends know that I have an off sense of humor, so they don't pay me much attention. However, know matter how clear you are, there is always going to be at least one person who will not get it. There are some discussions that I come across that I do not understand and I will ask that it be clarified or just pass it up.

I have occasionally but it's never been over anything major. I do wish MyLot had those little smilies like Yahoo messenger has...they help alot to get across what your feeling while your typing. **AT PEACE WITHIN** ~~STAND STRONG IN YOUR BELIEFS~~

I've had that happen....someone didn't understand the whole situation and the response was way off the wall. I just said thanks for posting. But there are times when it is totally misconscrewed and I have felt offended to the point of blushing......then reread what they wrote and maybe I was in a hurry and had to decipher what they meant....

I think may be they just provoking us to that tense situation. In fact at the real time they are having big laughs to our reaction. Because we cannot see each other on the screen.

I and you have the same feeling. The Interent really is an extremely appealing world.

I often get that. For me, it's normal. Maybe it was my fault for posting response that is not clear enough, or maybe I accidentally did the same. At least, just keep it cool. Sometimes, wrong idea still have good information.