Interpreting Emojis: Millennials versus Non-Millennials

Abstract

The presence of emoticons--and now emojis--within written messages has increased since the advent of electronic communication. We conducted a quasi-experiment to learn whether a “smirk” emoji would be interpreted as indicating seductiveness by digital natives (Millennials) and non-digital natives (non-Millennials). We surveyed participants (N = 283) and asked them how they interpreted a message that contained the “smirk” emoji. Millennials were more likely than non-Millennials to infer seductiveness from this emoji. Our data suggest age-related differences in how various nonverbal cues are interpreted within electronic communication mediums

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