The Digital Tone Test
Can you read between the lines? An objective test of how accurately you decode tone in texts
About this assessment
The first ability test of digital tone: not how good you believe you are at reading texts, but how accurately you actually decode sarcasm, subtext, and digital body language — scored right/wrong like an IQ test. Inspired by computer-mediated-communication research: Kruger et al. (2005), "Egocentrism over e-mail," found that senders sharply overestimate how well their tone transmits in text; Riordan and Kreuz showed that emoji and punctuation carry real emotional information; and 2025 findings confirm people can decode text tone above chance when they attend to the right cues. Each of the 24 items presents a short text-message scenario with one reading most consistent with established digital-communication conventions and the message's cues — answers are consensus-keyed, and your result is an estimated skill level across three abilities: detecting sarcasm and irony, reading subtext and soft signals, and decoding digital cues like punctuation, emoji, timing, and message length. For education and self-reflection.
Your result breaks down across 3 measured dimensions
For self-reflection and education — not a clinical diagnosis or substitute for professional support.