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This is our quirky story of the day for sure. Are you an Emoji fan? (let’s face it, the majority of us love them), well then you may be ahead of the relationship game if so, because according to new study, using Emojis in texts and on social media can help build successful relationships, according to a linguistics professor. We know, but hear us out because the whole thing sounds rather interesting.
Just in case you don’t know, emojis are small smiley face and picture images used in electronic messages.
Bangor University linguistics Professor Vyv Evans says emojis are now the fastest growing form of communication in the UK and may help people build successful relationships. We’re not too surprised of their growing popularity, yesterday was even ?World Emoji Day,? so that’ll tell you have far the little smiley-faced guys have come. They go way back in fact. They were first launched in Japan in 1999.
According to Wales Online, Prof Evans, from Conwy, North Wales, who is studying usage patterns of emojis, he says that using emojis as a form of communication can help when it comes to building a relationship.
These symbols [emojis] may be able to help people who find it difficult to express themselves through words, better communicate their thoughts and feelings in both their personal and professional relationships
In a survey of 2,000 adults aged 18-65 led by Prof Evans, 72 percent of 18 to 25-year-olds said they found it easier to put their feelings across in emoji icons than in text. In the same group 51 percent said they found emojis made them better communicators, and thus helped their relationships.
?The emojis serve a similar function to initiation and gesturing in spoken language,? Prof Evans said. ?There are some language experts who say emojis make us dumber and that they’re a backwards step,? Prof Evans continued.
?But this research shows that in fact, they make us better communicators and better able to express emotions. These symbols may be able to help people who find it difficult to express themselves through words, better communicate their thoughts and feelings in both their personal and professional relationships,? he added.
We think it’s a quirky one for sure, and aren’t entirely convinced as yet, but it’s an interesting theory! Do you think using emojis can make you a better communicator and help your relationship?
Via Wales Online
