can't understand emotions when reading others online

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Hi All,

My name is Karthik. I am new to this forum I am grad student at the Media Lab in MIT. Over the past couple of years, I've been realizing certain things about myself that I thought were odd about me. So this semester I am talking a course called 'Autism Theory and Technology' with Rosalind Picard and Matthew Goodwin in the lab.

I've always had difficulties inferring affect through text. For example, if someone says something on my facebook wall, I can't tell if they are being serious or just kidding. I've always thought of myself as a sensitive person and never asked myself why it happens to me. My friends would simply ask me to develop 'thick skin' and generally thought I was being a softy. But lately I've realized that I am very slow in registering jokes even when they are spoken. People catch a joke far earlier than me. I often understand it much later and start laughing then, but people have told me that my late reactions to a joke are just plain weird.

I was wondering if this is just me or if other people have a problem inferring affect and emotion through text (online) and verbal cues? If there are more people like me out there, I want to work on something that might make the online experience a little better for people like me!

I hope to listen to your thoughts!!

Thanks so much!

I will assume that you interpret language very literately. Thus, some expressions might lack meaning to you.

I am the same way. I also don't know how to interpret no response on Facebook.

Thanks Puppygnu and Aimless!

I find it far easier to understand people when they use emoticons. Otherwise, it is difficult for me to interpret what they're saying until I read people's replies. I sometimes hope people use a lot more emoticons when they write online, it would make my life far easier.

But I'm so glad that I am not alone in being this way! A few years back, people would say things behind my back like 'he can't even understand a joke' and it sort of drove me away from things like facebook.

I wonder how many people stay away from things like Facebook and find it to communicate online for things like that.

I'm not always completely sure about the emoticons either.

Do you hang out a lot on Facebook?

I check in every day but I don't hang around.

Me too. I usually get scared of typing something without fully understanding somebody and then dealing with responses to it