The Impact of Emojis on Digital Communication

 

 

Jun-Yen Wu

Department of English, National ChengChi University

Writing and Reading (II)

Professor June Liu

January 10, 2024

 

 

 

 

 

Introduction

　　In 2015, Oxford Dictionaries declared the “Face with Tears of Joy” emoji  as “Word of the Year,” a choice that reflected the rising significance of emojis in global digital communication. Oxford Languages (2015) reported that the “Face with Tears of Joy” was the most-used emoji globally, accounting for 20% of all emojis used in the U.K. and 17% in the U.S. in 2015, making it the best choice as the “Word of the Year.” This surge in emoji usage was further illustrated by the Emoji Research Team’s (2016) “2016 Emoji Report,” indicating there were 2.3 trillion mobile messages with emojis sent in a single year. Among them, users with medium-level usage of mobile messaging apps used emojis in 49% of their messages, while users with heavy-level usage used emojis in 56% of their messages. This trend has continued to grow. In 2019, 5 billion emojis were used daily on Facebook. (Bai et al., 2019). Also, Broni (2021) published “Top Emoji Trends of 2021,” an analysis of over 7 billion tweets from September 2011 to December 2021. The study revealed a significant rise in the percentage of tweets containing at least one emoji, rising from 2.71% in December 2012 to 21.54% in December 2021. Adobe Team (2022) published “2022 U.S. Emoji Trend Report” showed that emojis are present in 51% of text/online messages, and among them, Gen Z users have an even higher prevalence of 57%. Also, most U.S. emoji users send up to 50 emojis daily in text/online messaging (Adobe Team, 2022). These statistics showed that emojis have become a critical part of modern digital language, particularly among younger generations who use them frequently in daily communication.

　　The term “emoji” comes from the Japanese word “picture-word (絵文字),” which combines “picture (絵)” and “character or word (文字),” and is similar to “emoticon,” a term that combines “emotion” and “icon” in English. Emojis are pictographic symbols used to express human emotions and were originally created by Shigetaka Kurita (栗田穣崇) from Japan in 1998. These emojis represent an evolution from the ASCII emoticons (顏文字), such as (^‿^) to express happiness or (ㆆ _ ㆆ) to convey fear. Emojis are a unique combination of technological innovation and human emotional expression. The creation of this concept of emojis can be traced back to the creation of the smiley face by Harvey Ross Ball in 1964 (Danesi, 2017).

　　Emojis became popular after Apple’s iOS 5 was introduced in 2011, and their usage expanded further with the launch of Unicode 8 in 2015. Emojis have now become an integral part of digital communication primarily due to Unicode’s international encoding standard that allows users to use the same characters across different platforms and programs (Danesi, 2017). The rise of emojis has transformed text-based communication on the internet. This essay will explore how emojis, by integrating visual elements into our digital writing systems, have enhanced emotional expression and bridged gaps in cross-cultural communication.

 

Enhancing Emotional Expression in Digital Communication

　　Emojis have transformed digital communication by enhancing emotional expression, a key aspect that traditional text-based interactions often lack. According to the “2022 U.S. Emoji Trend Report” by Adobe Team (2022), 91% of U.S. emoji users find these symbols make it easier for them to express themselves. Additionally, 90% of U.S. emoji users are more likely to feel empathy or understanding when an emoji is used. This data stressed the crucial role that emojis play in enhancing emotional expression. Bai et al. (2019) indicated that online text-based communication lacks the emotional tone, facial expression, and body language present in face-to-face interactions and often leaves messages open to misinterpretation. Emojis are symbols that represent different concepts, such as facial expressions, emotions, animals, plants, activities, gestures, body parts, and objects. They help fill the emotional gap that words can leave, allowing people to convey their feelings and intentions more accurately and effectively. This ensures that the receiver fully understands the sender’s intention in the message. (Bai et al., 2019). For instance, a simple smiley emoji  can add warmth and friendliness to a text message, converting it from plain words into a friendly interaction. Similarly, a heart emoji  can express affection or support without the need for elaborate wording.

　　From the field of neural science, Jibril and Abdullah (2013) emphasized that non-verbal communication plays a crucial role in human communication, accounting for as much as 93% of all communication. The human brain processes visual elements much faster than written text. The brain processes image elements almost instantaneously, while language is processed in a linear and chronological manner, which takes more time. This means that visual information is processed and interpreted much more quickly than text data. Emojis, as pictographic symbols, offer non-verbal cues to enhance understanding of what people are trying to convey (Jibril & Abdullah, 2013). Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies, such as those by Aldunate & González-Ibáñez (2017), have demonstrated that emoticons activate brain regions associated with emotional discrimination, such as the right inferior frontal gyrus (Aldunate & González-Ibáñez, 2017), suggesting their possible role in the association between emoticons and emotional discrimination. Overall, the study of Aldunate and González-Ibáñez (2017) noted that the use of emoticons in sentences activates brain areas involved in verbal and non-verbal information processing, suggesting that emoticons assist in emotional discrimination, similar to other nonverbal cues. Recent studies by Gantiva, Sotaquirá, Araujo, and Cuervo (2020) further compared the neural processing of human faces and emojis in digital communication. They suggested that using emojis in computer-mediated communication can produce neural responses similar to those observed in face-to-face communication. Emojis and emoticons are essential in emotional recognition and processing as they trigger neural responses akin to face-to-face interactions.

　　From the field of linguistics, Thompson et al. (2016) discovered that messages containing emoticons generate higher emotional arousal, suggesting that emoticons intensify emotions. This highlights how emojis can compensate for the absence of physical cues in digital communication. This finding is supported by Aldunate & González-Ibáñez (2017), who found that when we communicate online, we may misinterpret the intended tone due to the lack of physical cues such as facial expressions or gestures. Emojis can clarify the emotional content of messages, reducing the potential for misinterpretation. Furthermore, Cramer, De Juan, and Tetreault (2016) conducted a survey of 276 US-based respondents, demonstrating that emojis not only offer a more efficient and playful communication way but also modify the tone of messages to be friendlier and less serious. Their study confirmed that emojis can add extra emotional meaning and tone to digital communication and effectively prevent misunderstandings (Cramer et al., 2016).

 

Emojis in Cross-Cultural Communication

　　In cross-cultural communication, emojis have appeared as a universal language, transcending traditional linguistic barriers. The “2022 U.S. Emoji Trend Report” by Adobe Team (2022) found that 92% of U.S. emoji users agree that emoji can be used to communicate across language barriers. This stresses the role of emojis in facilitating understanding across diverse linguistic contexts. Emojis, particularly those that depict facial expressions, are an integral component of modern digital language.

　　However, while certain emojis are considered to be universally understandable, studies by Bai et al. (2019) and Bich-Carriere (2019) discovered that interpretations of emojis can be different. While some emojis are universally understood, their interpretation can vary based on cultural contexts (Bai et al., 2019). The same emojis combined with cultural influences can lead to different interpretations (Bich-Carriere, 2019).

　　Some emojis have culturally specific interpretations; on the other hand, the representation of basic emotions like happiness or sadness is universally recognizable. Research by Alshenqeeti (2016) demonstrated that common facial expressions are universally understood, and emojis representing them can be used to communicate and express emotions across cultures. Therefore, the global recognition of pictographic representations of emotions can undoubtedly contribute to transcending cultural barriers and reducing cross-cultural misunderstanding. Unlike traditional written language, which has created a divide between those who can read and write and those who cannot, anyone can use emojis to convey their feelings (Alshenqeeti, 2016). Research by Danesi (2016) supported this and showed that emojis represent basic human emotions such as disgust, fear, anger, contempt, sadness, surprise, and happiness and can capture fundamental emotional patterns and communication among people from diverse backgrounds worldwide. For example, people all over the world from different languages and cultural backgrounds can understand the meaning of a smiling face , which is a yellow face with smiling eyes and a broad smile and is universally recognized as a symbol of genuine happiness and warm, positive feelings. This universal comprehension of emojis makes them especially valuable in bridging not only the language barriers but also the literacy divide. Even individuals who cannot read or write any language can still comprehend the meaning conveyed by emojis effectively.

 

Conclusion

　　This essay explores the impact of emojis on modern digital communication. It highlights two significant effects: the enhancement of emotional expression in digital contexts and the bridging of cross-cultural communication gaps. In the digital age, where technology-mediated communication is prevalent, text-based communication often lacks the emotional expression that face-to-face interactions provide. Emojis emerge as powerful tools for conveying emotions and intentions that words alone might fail to express. Numerous studies have demonstrated the significance of using emojis to enhance emotional expression, leading to more empathetic and meaningful conversations.

　　Additionally, emojis serve as a universal language that transcends linguistic and cultural barriers. Their simple, visual representation of basic human emotions and concepts has made them an invaluable asset for global communication. While the interpretation of certain emojis may differ across cultural contexts, their fundamental role in facilitating understanding and connection is universally acknowledged. Emojis have not only enriched our digital communication but also connected us across diverse cultures, leading to a sense of global understanding.

　　In conclusion, the widespread use of emojis represents a change in digital communication. By enhancing emotional expression and bridging cultural divides, emojis have become integral parts that enrich our interactions and mutual understanding in the digital age.

 

 

 

 

 

References

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