Expression of emotion in writing
When I think about it, it seems to me that written communication on the Internet was more popular in the past. Or perhaps it's more appropriate to say that it was more popular, or that it was the main way of communicating. There was a bulletin board on most of the web sites, and I remember that even in online games, people used to talk with a keyboard instead of voice chatting. Come to think of it, the "w" I learned to use to express laughter in online games about 10 years ago is still in use today as "Shiba", but I don't use it anymore because I feel like it's a privilege for middle and high school students to use it.
By the way, I can't help but feel that not only "w" but also other written expressions that show laughter are very difficult to use in social network communications. In general, I think the following are the most common ways to show laughter.
(1) w
(2)（笑）
(3) 笑
(4)わら
The reason I'm writing this is because recently, more than ever before, I've been seeing more and more people adding (3) and (4) to their messages on line, etc. than ever before. I always wonder why it's so strange, but when I ask my friend who knows a lot about things, he replies, "It's because if you don't add them, your writing will become tasteless.
I wonder if that's true, but I'm left with a sense of discomfort. Perhaps it's because of a bad habit of (laughing) itself, which inevitably makes it seem like a stunt, and a certain skepticism that I'm not laughing that hard. I think emoticons are much easier to understand, but I still feel like I'm being agitated the day they're used (^^), so I'm pregnant with the same problem.
That's why I thought emojis were great, that's what I'm talking about (conclusion). I think stamps are great, but I think there's a lag in the expression of emotions in that they're not subtly integrated with the text (although I suppose the stamp itself should complete the expression in the first place). I want to put all the emotions in one sentence, or something like that. That's why I'd really like to see "（^^）" these days.
