- A Japanese study has investigated the influence of emojis on our mental health
- The difference between the actual feeling and the expression used by emoji can lead to emotional exhaustion
- Nevertheless, emojis remain essential for our online communications.
This is an exciting study that researchers from the University of Tokyo decided to conduct. The idea was to measure to what extent emojis can influence our psychological state.
To see more clearly, the scientists recruited 1289 participants who used emojis and reported the intensity of their emotional expressions and whether or not they matched via emoticons.
emotional exhaustion
Concretely, it appeared that emojis can sometimes make us lose track of our current feelings. This is particularly often the case with the smile emoticon, which can defuse a tense situation. But precisely, this difference between reality and the choice of emoji can lead users to a form of emotional exhaustion, warn the authors.
They also found that Internet users use very few negative emojis. When this happens, it is done to convey a feeling considered extremely unfavorable towards a person or a situation.
On the strength of these lessons, the researchers call for “future research on the psychological impact of online emotion norms. » There are indeed some limitations to their study, and in particular the over-representation of women among the participants.
Be that as it may, emojis remain indispensable in our online exchanges, as explained in 2020, Moitree Banerjee, professor at the University of Chichester: “Emoticons allow receivers to correctly understand the level and direction of their interlocutor’s emotion. In addition to conveying attitude, emojis can also reassure the receiver”.
Moreover, the company Adobe published a study that encourages employees to use emoticons in their professional messages. For what ? It appears in a survey that 81% of respondents consider people who use emoticons to be friendlier and more approachable.
The survey further noted that: “More than half (58%) of emoji users are more likely to open an email? of a brand whose object is an emoji. Almost half (44%) of emoji users are more likely to purchase products advertised using emojis. » If you are interested in the subject, you can always read our article on the subject here.
