I saw your comment on @Riverflows' post, and had to see if this post had actually been published by now. I see it has. Yes, an emdash is sometimes used as a parenthetical tool that is visually less disruptive, but also as a way to splice sentences and clauses without a comma. I mainly use it was a tool for attributing quotes, and I've trained myself to use the alt+0151 method on a WIndows machine with a full number pad keyboard. Like this:

I've trained myself to use the alt+0151 method on a WIndows machine with a full number pad keyboard.
—me, just above this bit