Emoticon communication, all without saying

【Culture Analysis】

　　A recent survey found that more than 70% of college students use emoticons to express their emotions, and more than 60% of the interviewees think emoticons are easy to show friendly and are accustomed to using emoticons to resolve embarrassment.

　　The Internet provides the technical basis for multimedia applications, making the dissemination of pictures and even moving pictures simple and easy, and the human being as a whole is entering the era of picture reading.

On this basis, the expansion of emoticons as a secondary language is reasonable and even inevitable.

It was originally intended for better communication, which can be seen as an important supplement to online text communication.

But as all kinds of emoticons emerge in endlessly, the subtext behind them becomes more and more abundant and elusive.

In actual use, many expressions have lost their original meaning and have a more obscure meaning.

　　For example, the most accepted explanation for the emoji package of "smile" is that it expresses inner joy without exaggerating laughter.

But some people think, “If you look closely at the eyes with this expression, the orbicularis oculi muscle (the muscle near the corner of the eye) does not move, and the orbicularis oris muscle (the muscle near the mouth) becomes tight. This is a signal for a smile." .

So this emoji is wrapped in the eyes of the elders, it is a smile and encouragement, in the eyes of young people, it is "face an idiot, an embarrassing but polite smile" or "despise, ridicule or even hate."

　　In the same way, the "smile and wave" emoticon package means "smile and say goodbye" on the surface, but in the eyes of young people, it means "bye, don't send, please go away".

　　The middle-aged person who knows the truth, who doesn't shout "So that's it" and attaches an emoticon pack that rolls his eyes.

　　Young people have their own set of social language codes.

For them, words are rational, and emojis are the best way to express their sensibility. They are cross-language and pure.

With emoji packs, some young people who claim to be "social fear" have become online social "little butterflies" flying up and down. Sometimes they create an aura where people don’t speak much, and sometimes they become a complex society and real life. The mask, through self-deprecating and ridiculing, vents negative emotions and realizes self-healing.

　　Since the development of emoticons, it has been transformed into a variety of re-assignments in social contexts through symbol collage, grafting, and embezzlement.

The interpretability, obscurity and uncertainty of emoticons have become one of the reasons why people are willing to use emoticons.

However, the most commonly used expressions are just vague, while certain ideograms are not commonly used by people.

This way of expression is actually a rebellion against the existing language environment. It is not only the subculture’s indifferent or disdainful expression of mainstream culture, but also an expression of its inability or unwillingness to merge with it.

　　Furthermore, by borrowing network technology to empower youth groups, everyone can participate in the production and sharing of emoticons.

Graphic symbols dispel serious discourse to a certain extent, and bring greater autonomy to the expression of young people.

This kind of anti-objectism in expression is what the younger generation enjoys.

　　The expression of young people is worth understanding.

But we also need to see that the function of words not only expresses thoughts, but also expresses emotions.

Today, when emoji packs are used to express emotions on a large scale, the deterioration of language organization ability and the ability to express thoughts is also worthy of vigilance.

If Li Bai faces the rushing waterfall and just throws out a few "powerful" emoticons, how can we read the verse of "Flying down three thousand feet, it is suspected that the Milky Way falls nine days"; Ruo Su Shi faced his wife early Passing away is just an emoticon of "tears", and there is no such tragic word that "a decade of life and death is boundless, without thinking, self-unforgettable".

　　Practicing words and sentences is a kind of training.

Conveying semantics by image signals has the advantages of convenience and directness compared with more abstract text symbols. However, just as text is born out of images, it has insufficient image power for complex things, delicate emotions, and profound thoughts.

After all, emoticons represented by images can only be a supplement to normal text expression in a specific circle.

The Internet leveled out the original linguistic life circle, resulting in unrelated language behaviors in the same room.

Young people should reshape their sense of style, and have specific language expressions on what occasions and what to say.

　　When emojis have taken a strong place in life, vigilance and reflection are essential.

(Author: Zhang Yan)