THE IMPACT AND INFLUENCE OF USING EMOJI
BY THE JUNIOR HS STUDENTS
CHAPTER ONE
THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND
Emojis are a new way of expressing yourself, mostly through social media. It is an
emotion, simplified through these little icons that are easily recognizable by everyone.
But how did emojis come to life? First they were called emoticons. Emojis, but in
symbols. It was the earlier form of emoji, which was popularized in Japan in the 1990s.
The emoji on the other hand, was invented in the 2000s, but it did not gain popularity to
the Western culture until the turn of the next decade.
The popularity of smartphones helped boost the popularity of the emoji. It was used in
messaging as a way to convey emotions, just as the emoticons did. As of July 2017, 60
billion emojis are sent on Facebook every day.
Since then their popularity has been unprecedented. It is wildly present in pop culture,
frequently used in instant messaging, and even movies.
Technology enabled us to communicate with symbols that can mean anything to
anyone.
When you can't see the person you're communicating with, an emoji is an effective
option. "It's how you emotionally express," said Linda Kaye, a senior lecturer of
psychology.
"It changes the meaning of how someone should interpret the text," said Vyvyan Evans,
professor of linguistics at Bangor University in the UK, and author of upcoming book
"The Emoji Code." "Emoji facilitates more effective communication."
One key finding was that the people using them tend to be more agreeable in nature.
This has a similar truth among people who more often use facial expressions or varying
intonation when face to face.
"It makes sense as these are probably people in the real world who are more smiley to
people," said Kaye.
It has been a powerful tool to easily express anything you wanted to say. Before,
sending a message to anyone far from someone else can take days, or even weeks,
and that’s when you are at a convenient location, like a city for instance. With the rise of
Internet, and social media, the way of messaging has changed.
From days to hours, it became seconds. It was instant messaging. It’s quick, easy. Now,
emojis made instant messaging even more instant, as emotions can now be simply
expressed through these yellow circles that require no further elaboration of context, but
the reward of having instant access to communication can have some repercussions.
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
The purpose of this study is to determine the underlying effects of using emojis
as an alternative form of communication, as well as the impact and influence of
social media itself – among other factors – in the way the current generation
wants and/or tries to use them.
Furthermore, this research aims to gain an overview about the overall statistic of
what our sample can reveal about our assumptions in this kind of research we
are tackling about. Our data sampling features students aged 12-17 years old
who are currently in Junior High School.
This research ultimately wants to give answers to the following questions:
1. Profile of the respondent
1.1 age
1.2 gender
1.3 grade level
2. Frequency of using emojis in:
2.1 Communication
2.1.1 In a conversational use case
2.1.2 In a non-conservational use case (general
posts/shares/tweets/comments)
3. Use Case of Emojis
3.1 For a casual use only, used for convenience
3.2 For a specific contextual purpose used in conversations shared with
a limited number of people (group chats/private message) that
contains hidden jokes or humor
3.3 For ridiculing, satirizing, or for ironic purposes
3.4 For expression of extreme emotions such as love that usually show
a more visual expression of the text being conveyed.
4. Perception of Students about Emojis
4.1 What do Students Think About the Use of Emojis?
4.1.1 Minimal Use of Emojis
4.1.2 Moderate Use of Emojis
4.1.3 Excessive Use of Emojis
4.2 How Do They Like Using Emojis?
NATURE OF THE PROBLEM
As discussed in The Problem and its Background, emojis can pose some
disadvantages that come with the advantages of using a faster medium of
communication. These are some of the problems:
1. The lack of expression of thoughts or ideas.
2. Using emojis may lead to misunderstanding of thoughts and feelings.
3. Emojis can be used as a medium to bully someone.
4. Emojis can be used to display fake or unreal emotions.
5. Emojis being non-universal. Emojis will look rather similar or different on
various platforms.
Apple Google Samsung Samsung Apple Google
Comparison of different emojis across different platforms(mobile phones)
CAUSES
1. The rise in the popularity and use of social media
2. The popularity of the use of smartphones in the recent years
3. The use of emoji in popular culture
4. The misunderstanding of students regarding the meaning of each emoji
5. Emojis on different platforms not having uniformity in its design.
POSSIBLE OUTCOMES
THE ADVANTAGES OF EMOJIS
The students have an easier way of communication, since it display emotions, it can be
easily understood. Although emoticons help convey emotions they can also be a great
medium for entertainment because of their familiar and sometimes endearing human
qualities. Emojis can be used to easily express thoughts or emotions in an informal
manner. Emojis can also be used to put emphasis on what one is trying to say. For
example:
Conversation without Emoji:
Cedrick: I just wanna know if you already had lunch today.
Allyiah: Uhmm…no, but can you pick some fries for me?
Cedrick: Oh sure!
Conversation with Emoji:
Cedrick: I just wanna know if you already had lunch today.
Allyiah: Uhmm…no, but can you pick some fries for me?
Cedrick: Oh sure!
A common use for emoticons is to prevent misunderstandings. Unlike face-to-face
interactions, texting doesn’t give you the ability to use tone of voice or facial movements
to communicate a message. It would equate to speaking to someone with no change in
facial movement or vocal inflection. Sarcasm and jokes can easily be misinterpreted in
text format.
THE DISADVANTAGES OF USING EMOJIS
The students may misinterpret the meaning of what the other person was trying to tell.
Either the emoji was used wrongly, or the other person did not understand what he/she
is trying to say.
For example:
Aira: Look. We need to finish this project immediately. The deadline is on Monday. What
is your plan? What will be our plan? Do you even try to research for our project?
Karl:
Aira: Are you mad?
Karl: Uh, no. I just said okay, I’m sorry if it meant like I did.
Another disadvantage is the misuse of emojis in a conversation. Either the person did
not know what it means, or the the persons in a conversation uses two different
platforms to communicate on. An example is the infamous Apple and Samsung emojis:
Convo on an Apple device – Cherry uses Apple, Louisse uses a Samsung device
Cherry: I just can’t look at that poor cat laying on the ground last evening!
Louisse: Are you mad or what?
Cherry: I mean, yeah, I am…
Louisse: What????
On a Samsung device:
Cherry: I just can’t look at that poor cat laying on the ground last evening!
Louisse: Are you mad or what?
Cherry: I mean, yeah, I am…
Louisse: What????
SIGNIFANCE OF THIS STUDY
This research will have its significance to the following:
1. Students
Students like us can greatly benefit from this research, as this is a relatively new
topic, there is a lot of things to be explored upon, especially about the history,
psychology, and impact of emojis on our generation.
2. Teachers
Teachers, like us researchers and students, can benefit from this research as
well. Due to changing trends, and education curriculum, teachers should always
be ready to adapt new techniques and methods of teaching. And learning more
about emojis can be one great example of this, not necessarily to be taught upon
students, but to realize and greatly understand how these things shape our
modern culture.
3. Future Researchers
In a new paper published in the journal Trends on Cognitive Sciences, a team of
psychologists argue that as our daily interactions become more digital, scientists
will benefit from studying them further.
To the future researchers, we researchers strongly believe there is a lot to talk
about this topic. It can explore a whole wide range of topics because emojis
aren’t simply a trend. It is something more than that, because it is becoming
more a part of our self-expression, a language that breaks language barriers. It is
powerful, and that’s why this can be a valuable source of research.
PURPOSE OF STUDY
The purpose of this study is to identify the impacts and influences of emojis
– how it changed and simplified our way of communication, what factors
did contribute to its popularity and success, and why everyone uses it.
And in contrast, how it impacts or influences one’s behaviors in a negative way.
The objective of this research is to:
1. To inform students, and teachers about how emojis affect the way we
communicate and its influence on culture.
This research can serve as source of factual proof of how emojis are not simply
emojis. Emojis are not a trend that will go away anytime soon. It has completely
changed the way we communicate, and even more so on other types of media.
2. To know the Junior High School’s thoughts and opinions about the impact
and influence of emojis in the present time.
This research aims to evaluate what the news and the Intenet tells about emojis
versus what the high school students really have to say about it. What could we,
the researchers derive from this data? What will be the differences or the
similarities?
3. To evaluate and compare the data given by the Junior High students
through research
ASSUMPTIONS
The researcher’s assumptions for the study are the following:
1. The data obtained are helpful and knowledgeable.
2. The frequency of using emojis may vary depending on the exposure of a
person in social media that uses emojis.
3. Expressing a person’s feeling and explaining what they wanted to say may be
easier through emojis.
4. The use of emojis may boost a person’s confidence in communicating with
others through social media. It may help him/her to gain new friends.
5. The use of emojis may help to lessen our problem with diversity since emojis
can be easily understood. The two person who have different language may
easily communicate to each other through emojis.
SCOPE AND DELIMITATION
This research was limited to the students, parents and staff on Holy Child
Academy during January 23 of 2019. It talks about the emojis as a new form of
communication and to find out the uses of emojis in today's generation. Also, for
the convenience of communicating with other nationalities.
Furthermore, it involves the perceptions of other parents as respondents towards
the use of these new form of communication. Likewise, problems encountered by
parents were also considered. Like, having trouble understanding emojis and
lack of knowledge what they really are for.
Thus, this study focused only on the perceptions of the students, parents, staff on
using emojis as a new form of communication.
