Hi! In FFS I love the emoji system between Ef and Arden, it inspired a similar system for me and a friend of mine. Still I think that chatting/talking on the phone is different than processing feelings while together in the same room. I was wondering how you think technology changes authenticity, and how you go about showing it in writing?
Honestly I think it just depends on the person, what value they find in technology, what kind of technology it is, and how much the person needs that technology?
Like, there is no universal answer to this. Even in writing, how characters use technology really depends on the person. I think Heartstopper did a really good job of depicting how technology is often an augment, and a positive part of being authentic among younger peers. It especially allows shy, introverted or anxious people more avenues in which to speak their mind, and say things they wouldn't be able to say in person.
As for how to show it in writing, that also just depends on the author? Some authors use literal emojis. I describe them in words (like 'thunderstorm emoji'). Some authors use extremely fancy formatting - or even screenshots with fake character accounts - to show text exchanges (these can be inaccessible). Other authors write them out in a more analog manner (like myself). I use a lot of dialogue rules around text messaging, especially short exchanges, because text messaging is dialogue. So that makes sense to me. Homestuck authors often scripted and wrote in the exact same style as the webcomic. Some authors put gifs into their stories. Some put hyperlinks to everything they researched, so people can see what they researched (or images of what they're describing).
If you think chatting/talking on the phone is different than processing feelings while together with someone in the same room, then it is for you. But that's all it means. There are people out there who feel like it's exactly the same. And other people who feel like chatting/talking on the phone allows for better processing of emotion and more authenticity. (Certainly the friends I have online, where we've mostly only ever talked online, know more about me than any of my friends irl do). And people who can't connect via phones or online chatting at all and just don't do it.
It's just...not a universal experience. It differs person by person. Therefore it will also naturally differ character by character. And the depiction will differ author by author.
I have no...generalised answer for you anon. I studied mass communications at university, which meant also learning a lot about 'new' modes of communication, and mostly it involved old people going 'oh no people are so disconnected now' and young people going 'omg I can finally find communities that allow me to realise who I am and I have queer support for the first time in my life, and this friend in the UK - we're going to meet in a few years!' and both are stereotypes anyway because there are old people who are dependent on digital online technology for communication and there are young people who don't really get it.
Technology can reduce, increase, or do nothing with authenticity. It depends on the person's relationship to every aspect of technology. Someone who is extremely raw in Discord may still have an extremely curated and superficial Facebook.
Not even the same people have the same relationships with all forms of communication-via-technology.
So yeah! Idk, I feel like I'm not really giving you what you wanted, because like it is just different for every person, character, and author.
