-By Madeline Matcheski

When communicating verbally, tone of voice and mannerisms can completely change the meaning of a sentence and how it is perceived. In a study originally conducted in 1967, UCLA professor of psychology Albert Mehrabian discovered 93% of understanding is from non-verbal cues. 55% is attributed to body language and 38% is due to tone of voice, both of which aren’t conveyed through text. In the online world, oftentimes it is hard to convey certain emotions through text on social media platforms. 

With the ever-evolving technological world, advancements are always being made in the ways of communication. Emojis were invented for this purpose, but many have double meanings differing with the generation gap. Some examples are the skull emoji, which can mean death or laughter, or the slight smiling emoji which can mean both happiness or the feeling of smiling through the pain. This is where tone indicators, also known as tone tags, come in handy. 

Tone indicators are short abbreviations of words immediately following a forward slash (/) used to convey tone in unclear text. They were originally popularized to assist neurodivergent individuals (for example, those with ADHD, dyslexia or autism) who may either struggle to interpret tone or interpret it differently from neurotypical people. It gained traction on platforms like Twitter, Reddit, Tumblr and TikTok and is now used widely.

Tone indicators aren’t exactly new. Henry Dunham, an English printer, created a backwards question mark, "⸮", as early as the 1580’s. It was used to indicate rhetorical questions (the equivalent of “/rh” or “/rt” today) and he called it the "percontation point”.The indicator “/s,” meaning “sarcastic,” has been used on the social media platform "Reddit" for many years, originating as a humorous XLM (Extensible Markup Language) closing tag, </sarcasm>. 

The unofficial list contains 34 different indicators, some of the more common ones being “/j” for “joking”, “/srs” for “serious”, and “/gen” for “genuine.” Familiarizing yourself with others such as "/s", "/p", "/r", "/ly", "/neg", "/pos" and "/lh" is beneficial. They are usually used at the end of sentences although they are often added to the beginning as well to avoid alarming readers. 

Tone indicators can and should be used by everyone! The more normalized and known they are, the easier it will be to communicate online. It’s important to not misuse or overuse them as it could create more conflict if it seems like you are misleading or condescending.

While emojis are fun to use, tone indicators are the way of the future for clear communication and expressive online interaction.

 Source: The Rise of Tone Indicators