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Do you ever feel the "dormant person feeling"? (lemmy.ml)

submitted 4 months ago by lemuria@lemmy.ml to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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The dormant person feeling is a feeling I find myself having on the Internet often. Casually browsing the Internet, I find myself reading through threads and websites that don't look like they've been updated since 2009, or 2010, or ${currentYear - 10}. Profiles that haven't posted in so long either.

When I see just how long ago their last activity was, it gives me the feeling, which I can only describe as a mix of concern, curiosity, and empathy. In my head, I go "I wonder how they are doing now", and "are they alive and well?". Sometimes I find myself "investigating" them or looking them up to see if they are still alive just so I can satiate this feeling of mine.

Do other people experience the dormant person feeling too? Is it wrong to have such a feeling? But hey, if I feel the dormant person feeling, it does show that I do have empathy for strangers, a good quality, I suppose.

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[–] cyborganism@lemmy.ca 6 points 4 months ago (6 children)

I bet the Germans or the Japanese have a word for that feeling that can't be translated in any other language.

[–] EmbarrassedBenefit3@reddthat.com 3 points 4 months ago (4 children)

In Filipino, it's usyoso

[–] lemuria@lemmy.ml 6 points 4 months ago (3 children)

That's just the act of lurking, it doesn't say anything about the feelings you get while lurking.

I am a Tagalog speaker too (but I had to look usyoso up in the dictionary lol)

[–] EmbarrassedBenefit3@reddthat.com 3 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Interesting. It's both the feeling and the act for me.

[–] lemuria@lemmy.ml 3 points 4 months ago

Who knows, maybe the dictionary is wrong, but I guess it wouldn't be wrong to extend the meaning of usyoso. Yay for language evolution

[–] megane_kun@lemm.ee 3 points 4 months ago

The way I've been using (and heard it being used) is more about the act. For example: "Nakiki-usyoso ka pa dyan! Pumasok ka na nga!" ("You're even spectating over therel! Come right back in, you!")

There's another word, usisa, which I would characterize as more like "to investigate, to look into" but is also akin to usyoso in a way I just can't put my finger on. I think it got conflated with usyoso as the colloquial uzi (from usisero/a, "someone who is overly-curious") took hold (example: "Uy! Wag ka ngang uzi! Kita mo na ngang nag-aamok na yang si Mang Torio eh. Pumasok ka na dito, bago ka pa madamay dyan!" ["Hey! Stop being an onlooker! You already see Mang Torio running amok. Come back inside before you get involved."])

I'd use neither to refer to the feeling of "wanting to find out about someone I'm spectating on" though. Personally, I'd just use something like na-intriga ("got intrigued/curious"). For example: "Na-intriga ako dun sa nabasa kong blog kagabi. Ano na kayang nangyari sa kanya. Huling post nya 2020 pa, tapos depressing pa yung post." ("I'm curious about the blog I read last night. I wonder what happened to them. Their last post was on 2020, and the post itself was depressing.")

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