Relationships between emoticon usage and recipient groups in students’ text messages

Emoticons are pictographic representations of facial expressions that are used to convey emotions in text messages and other similar methods of communication. Most research on emoticons has examined how they are used in public forums rather than in private messaging. Using a sample of undergraduate...

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Main Authors: Teh, Phoey Lee *, Ooi, Pei Boon *, Gill, C. M. H. D.*
Format: Conference or Workshop Item
Language:English
Published: 2020
Subjects:
Online Access:http://eprints.sunway.edu.my/1535/
http://eprints.sunway.edu.my/1535/1/Teh%20Phoey%20Lee%20Preprint%20-%20Relationships%20between%20emoticon%20usage%20and%20recipient%20groups.pdf
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author Teh, Phoey Lee *
Ooi, Pei Boon *
Gill, C. M. H. D.*
author_facet Teh, Phoey Lee *
Ooi, Pei Boon *
Gill, C. M. H. D.*
author_sort Teh, Phoey Lee *
building SU Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Emoticons are pictographic representations of facial expressions that are used to convey emotions in text messages and other similar methods of communication. Most research on emoticons has examined how they are used in public forums rather than in private messaging. Using a sample of undergraduate students (n=106; male 52.83%; mean age 20.26 years, SD 1.93), this study examines the use of emoticons in private text communication. Results reveal that emoticon usage is highest amongst friends, followed by siblings, then parents, other family members and more distant connections. Emoticons representing positive emotions are more commonly used than those representing strong negative emotions. Emoticons representing relief were found to be used particularly within peer group communication, whereas emoticons representing contentment were used more with family members and other, more distant, connections. The use of the “Relieved” emoticon with peers may reflect overcoming the stressors associated with shared educational challenges, whereas using the “Content” emoticon outside peers and family may represent emotional modulation and presentation.
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spelling sunway-15352020-12-04T05:29:11Z http://eprints.sunway.edu.my/1535/ Relationships between emoticon usage and recipient groups in students’ text messages Teh, Phoey Lee * Ooi, Pei Boon * Gill, C. M. H. D.* HM Sociology QA75 Electronic computers. Computer science Emoticons are pictographic representations of facial expressions that are used to convey emotions in text messages and other similar methods of communication. Most research on emoticons has examined how they are used in public forums rather than in private messaging. Using a sample of undergraduate students (n=106; male 52.83%; mean age 20.26 years, SD 1.93), this study examines the use of emoticons in private text communication. Results reveal that emoticon usage is highest amongst friends, followed by siblings, then parents, other family members and more distant connections. Emoticons representing positive emotions are more commonly used than those representing strong negative emotions. Emoticons representing relief were found to be used particularly within peer group communication, whereas emoticons representing contentment were used more with family members and other, more distant, connections. The use of the “Relieved” emoticon with peers may reflect overcoming the stressors associated with shared educational challenges, whereas using the “Content” emoticon outside peers and family may represent emotional modulation and presentation. 2020-11-30 Conference or Workshop Item PeerReviewed text en cc_by_nc_4 http://eprints.sunway.edu.my/1535/1/Teh%20Phoey%20Lee%20Preprint%20-%20Relationships%20between%20emoticon%20usage%20and%20recipient%20groups.pdf Teh, Phoey Lee * and Ooi, Pei Boon * and Gill, C. M. H. D.* (2020) Relationships between emoticon usage and recipient groups in students’ text messages. In: Proceedings of the 22nd International Conference on Information Integration and Web-based Applications & Services (iiWAS2020), 30 November - 2 December 2020, ACM, New York, NY, USA,.
spellingShingle HM Sociology
QA75 Electronic computers. Computer science
Teh, Phoey Lee *
Ooi, Pei Boon *
Gill, C. M. H. D.*
Relationships between emoticon usage and recipient groups in students’ text messages
title Relationships between emoticon usage and recipient groups in students’ text messages
title_full Relationships between emoticon usage and recipient groups in students’ text messages
title_fullStr Relationships between emoticon usage and recipient groups in students’ text messages
title_full_unstemmed Relationships between emoticon usage and recipient groups in students’ text messages
title_short Relationships between emoticon usage and recipient groups in students’ text messages
title_sort relationships between emoticon usage and recipient groups in students’ text messages
topic HM Sociology
QA75 Electronic computers. Computer science
url http://eprints.sunway.edu.my/1535/
http://eprints.sunway.edu.my/1535/1/Teh%20Phoey%20Lee%20Preprint%20-%20Relationships%20between%20emoticon%20usage%20and%20recipient%20groups.pdf