While some use emoji to convey whatever emotions we happen to be feeling in reaction to a given situation, scientists out of the University of Toyko report a lot of us actually do the opposite.
While other studies have looked into how we use emoji — for example, which ones make you look unprofessional — this examination of nearly 1,300 people got into the “why.”
What the researchers found was that just like with our actual mugs, people often use emoji to hide what they really feel — like the way you may have smiled at getting socks for Christmas.
To put the socks analogy in more technical terms, the researchers said, “[M]anaging emotional expressions in light of social norms often means that the intensity of emotional expressions does not reflect the actual intensity of the experienced emotions.”
The University’s Moyu Liu noted, “As online socializing becomes more prevalent, people have become accustomed to embellishing their expressions and scrutinizing the appropriateness of their communication.”
While that may be fine for keeping up appearances and not ruffling feathers, Liu warns, “I realized that this may lead us to lose touch with our authentic emotions.”
This constant need to put on a 🙂 may lead to “emotional exhaustion,” just like IRL, the researchers explained in their findings, which were published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology.