Arjun Singh Rathore
Watches set at 10:10 resemble a smiling face ??, the first ever Emoji showing a significant positive effect on the emotion of the observer and the intention to buy.
The emoji was predated by the emoticon, a concept implemented in 1982 by computer scientist Scott Fahlman when he suggested text-based symbols such as 🙂 and 🙁 could be used to replace language. Theories about language replacement can be traced back to the 1960s, when Russian novelist and Professor Valdimir Nabokov stated in an interview with The New York Times “I often think there should exist a special typographical sign for a smile, some sort of concave mark, a supine round bracket.” It did not become a mainstream concept until the 1990s when Japanese, American and European companies began developing Fahlman’s idea of emoticons using common alphabet symbols, and aimed to replace language/text to express emotion, and for that reason are seen as the actual origin of emoticons.
From English literature to shortened form as Abbreviations to Emoji which is originally a pictogram in the shape of a smiley embedded in text and used in electronic messages and web pages, and is used to say and express the emotions & mood. The primary function of emoji is to fill in emotional cues otherwise missing from typed conversation. Some of the very early examples of emoji are YY,Å,I,N,9. Emoji exist in various genres, including facial expressions, common objects, places and types of weather, and animals. They are much like emoticons, except emoji are pictures rather than typographic approximations; the term “emoji” in the strict sense refers to such pictures which can be represented as encoded characters, but it is sometimes applied to messaging stickers by extension. Originally meaning pictograph, the word emoji comes from Japanese e (?, ‘picture’) + moji (??, ‘character’); the resemblance to the English words emotion and emoticon is purely coincidental.
Originating on Japanese Mobile Phones in 1997, emoji became increasingly popular worldwide in the 2010s after being added to several mobile operating systems. They are now considered to be a large part of popular culture in the West and around the world. In 2015, Oxford Dictionaries named the Face with Tears of Joy emoji (??) the word of the year.
Psychologist Leah Selakovic, working at SACAC Counselling, a mental health clinic in Singapore, shared all about how emojis changed the way we communicate. She said the most frequently used emoticons tended to be the ones involving human faces. It can sometimes be difficult to interpret the tone of a message, and emojis serve to clarify that. She added that when the sender’s message was clear, there was a higher chance of getting the intended emotional response. Even when a text message was straightforward, emojis could effectively emphasise a point or emotion. Selakovic illustrated this by pointing out the “thumbs up” ?? emoji, which could, for example, strengthen the positive tone of a simple “Congratulations!” text. This was how emojis changed our speech patterns and communication, she said. As a matter of fact, the typical “LOL” and “hahaha” responses have been increasingly replaced with their emoji counterparts “rolling on the floor laughing” ??and “face with tears of joy” ??. This is because these images are a much more accurate depiction of the facial expressions we make. Our brains create a link between emojis and the emotions they are meant to represent. These images are a powerful form of non-verbal communication. This means our brains process them as emotional communication rather than words. Thus, a lot of meaning could be packed inside these tiny icons, and they might even reveal certain aspects of our personalities.
The psychologist added that researchers were split on whether emojis were harming or benefiting how teens communicate. An emoji’s ability to simplify words and feelings could appeal to young people who were still finding their voice since it might give them another means to express themselves. Individuals who scored higher on agreeableness often used heart-shaped emojis and kissing emojis images that convey feelings of empathy. But this could come at a cost. Teachers at kindergarten and primary level say Emojis create a negative impact on the mental health of young children. Human emotions are complex and there is a concern that an over-reliance on simplified forms of expression could impair an individual’s capacity for emotional expression later in life. Nonetheless, Selakovic said emojis could give us insight into today’s internet culture and the emotions we valued on social media. Whether we use a heart ? or the ‘face with tears of joy’ ?? emoji, the feelings we yearn for in real life are translated into how we interact with others online. The tiny icons on our screens are processed as emotions in our brains, transforming how we communicate while sending a message about our personality traits.
On the other side the research has shown that emoji are often misunderstood. In some cases, this misunderstanding is related to how the actual emoji design is interpreted by the viewer. In other cases, the emoji that was sent is not shown in the same way on the receiving side.
The first issue relates to the cultural or contextual interpretation of the emoji. When the author picks an emoji, they think about it in a certain way, but the same character may not trigger the same thoughts in the mind of the receiver.
For example, people in China have developed a system for using emoji subversively, so that a smiley face could be sent to convey a despising, mocking, and even obnoxious attitude, as the orbicularis oculi (the muscle near that upper eye corner) on the face of the emoji does not move, and the orbicularis oris (the one near the mouth) tightens, which is believed to be a sign of suppressing a smile.
The second problem relates to technology and branding. When an author of a message picks an emoji from a list, it is normally encoded in a non-graphical manner during the transmission, and if the author and the reader do not use the same software or operating system for their devices, the reader’s device may visualize the same emoji in a different way. Small changes to a character’s look may completely alter its perceived meaning with the receiver. As an example, in April 2020, British actress and presenter Jameela Jamil posted a tweet from her iPhone using the Face with Hand over Mouth emoji (??) as part of a comment on people shopping for food during the COVID-19 pandemic. On Apple’s iOS, the emoji expression is neutral and pensive, but on other platforms the emoji shows as a giggling face. Many fans were initially upset thinking that she, as a well off celebrity, was mocking poor people, but this was not her intended meaning.
The lockdown effect during COVID-19 ??, the world collectively leaped into online communication, sharing the emotions of how we simile, joke, laugh and cry with the help of emojis. Facebook came up with their own emoji a new Avatars feature with customize virtual lookalike of yourselves for use as stickers in chat and comments. Once you personalize your Avatar’s face, hair, and clothes, they’ll star in a range of frequently updated stickers conveying common emotions and phrases. From Likes to Reactions to Avatars, you could see this as the natural progression of self-expression on Facebook or as a ruthless clone of Snapchat’s wildly popular Bitmoji selfie stickers.
These animations serve as technical phenomena translating moments of affective and emotional expression into mediated socially legible forms. Through an analysis of these objects and the broader literature on digital animation, the English literature scholars critique the ways these facial recognition systems classify and categorize racial identities in human faces. They also foresee and consider the potential dangers of both radicalizing logics as part of these systems of classification, and how data regarding emotional expression gathered through these systems might interact with identity-based forms of classification.
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