Contents
Psychology
Since the beginning of the pandemic, emojis have adapted to our mood
The use of emoticons is already a new way of communication. There are those who cannot conceive of being able to send a message without the support of a small face that reinforces the state of mind they seek to express. Even the RAE has ruled on them and has regulated their use (In case you are curious, when using it “it is best not to do without the period at the end of a sentence and place the emoji behind”).
But, with the strange moment in which we live, in which bad news takes the headlines and many of people’s lives, the trend of using these emoticons is turning: if before emoticons prevailed to express happiness, now those who reflect negative moods.
A study carried out by the “emojipedia”, in which 68 million tweets have been analyzed since 2018, shows these results. The study categorizes all emoticons into three large groups: those that express positive emotions, those that express negative emotions, and those that are more ambiguous. In April 2019, the use of the former was 30%, of the latter 16,45% and of the ambiguous 2.08%. The results of the same month, but in 2020, reflect that the positive emojis have been used by 28,14%, the negative ones by 17,22% and the last by 5.91%, almost always expressing sad emotions.
Although it is impossible to determine all the reasons behind the change in trend, it is possible that The descentof the use of positive emoticons It is due to the global pandemic that we are experiencing, especially because the greatest drop has been seen in a very recent period, ”the study explains.
On the other hand, the research reflects that, taking as the period of the sample from August 2019 to April 2020, the use of travel, weather and sports emoticons have experienced a setback. Among these are the icon that represents an umbrella, the one that is an airplane, or those that are a baseball and a soccer ball. “The suspension of professional sports leagues could have influenced the decrease in the use of sports emoticons,” he explains. In the case of the plane, although the downward trend lasts a little longer over time, the study points out that it may be due to the changes we are experiencing.
«The growth that has been observed in the use of emojis has decreased since we embarked on the “New normal”, but it is still too early to be sure of it ”, concludes the study.