More Emojis = More Sex?

In the journal PLOS One, a new study this month — “Worth a thousand interpersonal words: Emoji as affective signals for relationship-oriented digital communication” — found that “emoji use with potential partners is associated with maintaining connection beyond the first date, and more romantic and sexual interactions over the previous year.” In other words, “our research suggests that emoji use may provide a reasonable proxy for expressing affect and may provide a useful aid in self-disclosure and building intimacy.”

As the authors conclude: “As a result, using emojis with potential romantic and sexual partners may in turn lead to more face-to-face opportunities to assess compatibility and attraction. Emojis appear to be an important aspect of social behaviour in today’s digital world that can be used strategically as affective signals, particularly in the domain of human courtship.”