Study finds some people may be masking their emotions with emojis

BOSTON - A new study finds people who use emojis in digital communication may be masking their emotions which could be harmful in the long run.

We often tack on an emoji or two at the end of a text or email to emphasize how we're feeling in the moment, but are we expressing how we really feel?

Researchers in Japan looked at more than 1,200 volunteers ages 11 to 26, mostly female, and found that happy emojis were often used to express positive feelings. But happy emojis were also used to mask negative feelings to make a message seem more positive.

For example, sending a smiley face emoji in response to a video clip that you don't actually like.  They said this may keep the peace between friends and family, but could have negative mental health consequences for the sender.

People were most likely to fake their feelings with emojis when they were communicating with people of higher social status or in a group chat versus one-on-one.  

In:
• Health

Mallika Marshall, MD

Mallika Marshall, MD is an Emmy-award-winning journalist and physician who has served as the HealthWatch Reporter for CBS Boston/WBZ-TV for over 20 years. A practicing physician Board Certified in both Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, Dr. Marshall serves on staff at Harvard Medical School and practices at Massachusetts General Hospital at the MGH Chelsea Urgent Care and the MGH Revere Health Center, where she is currently working on the frontlines caring for patients with COVID-19. She is also a host and contributing editor for Harvard Health Publications (HHP), the publishing division of Harvard Medical School.

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