In other words, I can't stop doing 👉👈 in real life

September 26, 2023 7:08 PM

TikTok, emojis and anime now as physical body language. Touching fingers, silently screaming into your hand, the Bella Swan hair tuck—each of these internet mannerisms all require a grossly exaggerated performance.
posted by spamandkimchi (18 comments total)

Ooops, meant to link touching fingers emoji.
posted by spamandkimchi at 7:09 PM on September 26, 2023

It's like the body language of silent movies has come back around again.
posted by hippybear at 7:30 PM on September 26, 2023 [2 favorites]

this is chuunibyou

signed,
Astral Bladewitch Glorious Kerning, the Nightfall Phalanx
posted by glonous keming at 7:41 PM on September 26, 2023 [3 favorites]

Now that I think about it, I have been surrounded, in my acquaintances, by people who do the quick anime head bow. But I have also been a huge weeb, and I have not always been much good at masking either. Gestures don’t bother me; using censored language IRL, however, is absolutely wretched and infuriating.
posted by Countess Elena at 8:04 PM on September 26, 2023 [1 favorite]

"idk my bff jill," I said, eyebrow arched in a thoughtful 🤔, "lol"
posted by allegedly at 8:19 PM on September 26, 2023 [3 favorites]

Most of this is a foreign world to me and I have no observations to offer regarding the movement of slang, physical and verbal, from online to off. It seems natural enough and we've been taking things off the screen as long as we've had screens.

What does seem be new is the level of performativity we are bringing from online worlds to our constant real lives. I watched a near thirty year old episode of time team this morning and it was really striking how little thought many of those on camera had given to how they appeared, in action and dress. There was a real naïveté to those not regularly on the show that is really rare to see now; the possibility of an audience is constantly with us now and I think that is really new. It makes a lot more of life a grossly exaggerated performance.
posted by deadwax at 8:30 PM on September 26, 2023 [1 favorite]

what is the Bella Swan hair tuck and how does it differ from the diverse other methods of tucking one's hair behind one's ear

(I'm assuming that's what it means?)
posted by Baethan at 9:23 PM on September 26, 2023 [1 favorite]

Coming from an older generation of Internet users, I've actually developed neck problems as a result of attempting to properly :-)
posted by clawsoon at 9:31 PM on September 26, 2023 [12 favorites]

One of the most off-putting aspects of live action anime adaptations or cosplay parades or maid cafes or idol performances is people acting like anime characters, who are as loopy and idiosyncratic as Looney Tunes but just in subtler ways.

Interesting that might stop being an issue in a few generations.
posted by Reyturner at 10:12 PM on September 26, 2023

*eye roll*
posted by slogger at 4:39 AM on September 27, 2023 [1 favorite]

I'm interested to see if the "TikTok hands" phenomenon jumps the fence into AFK: there's a manic use of hands to emphasise speech in to-camera TikToks, something about filling the space and having a more animated look, and you don't see it elsewhere other than stereotypical depictions of Italians.
posted by Ten Cold Hot Dogs at 5:28 AM on September 27, 2023

there's a manic use of hands to emphasise speech in to-camera TikToks, something about filling the space and having a more animated look, and you don't see it elsewhere other than stereotypical depictions of Italians.

I guess you've never talked to someone from New York City.
posted by Liquidwolf at 7:51 AM on September 27, 2023 [1 favorite]

I mean, yes? And sure, lots of people and cultures emphasise talking with your hands, but this is about something particular to a social media platform and the way it invades offline spaces.

So maybe I should have specified that I'm not wondering if this is observable behaviour in Queens or Naples, but rather in deepest Nebraska or Northumberland.
posted by Ten Cold Hot Dogs at 8:17 AM on September 27, 2023 [1 favorite]

The description of rolling your eyes and sticking out your tongue as a "real-life manifestation" of the rolling-your-eyes-and-sticking-out-your-tongue emoji made me use a real-life manifestation of the shrug emoji.
posted by mcdoublewide at 12:45 PM on September 27, 2023 [2 favorites]

something something simulacrum
posted by synecdoche at 1:37 PM on September 27, 2023 [1 favorite]

The visual equivalent of saying "XD" out loud.
posted by subdee at 2:04 PM on September 27, 2023

what is the Bella Swan hair tuck


I had the same question. The article at the link doesn't explain it. I tried to google it, but apparently you have to watch TikTok videos to see it, and apparently I can't do that because I don't have the app or something.

So yeah, just... get off my lawn.
posted by mikeand1 at 9:55 AM on September 28, 2023

I don't really have strong feelings about this phenomenon, which I find overall harmless, but it does rubs me a little the wrong way that so many of these exaggerated gestures are soooo gendered. That is, they're ways to do an exaggerated performance of femininity, and more specifically one that is cute, child-like, and naive. I don't mind it so much in the context of like, social media, given that everything there is super performative and about creating a flashy persona. But in everyday life...grown women are not anime girls, and there's already enough pressure to self-infantilize so as not to appear threatening in social interactions.
posted by adso at 12:31 PM on September 28, 2023