Emojis and Nonverbal Communication?

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ASAPThought's latest video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzNPSJXTKWA) is about the science of emojis, and how the same parts of the brain that interpret nonverbal cues also interpret emojis. I was wondering if this in any way relates to autism. It's an interesting topic.

I don't use emojis and I find most of them, besides the basic "smiley face" and "frowny face," confusing. I also have a lot of trouble figuring out the more subtle and less universal nonverbal cues. What about you guys? How often do you use emojis, and how does it relate to your nonverbal communication skills in person?

Sometimes, I have to put my mouse on the emoji in order to know what it stands for.

I usually ad an emoticon ":)" so that the intent of my statement I clear and cannot be mis-interpreted. Unfortunately, people have taken that to mean my sentence was sarcastic. :/

_________________
Ya, I'm weird like that...

In the past, I never used emoticons. I, quite frankly, didn't like them at all. But recently I have been using them. I even drew my own custom set for the writing forum that I administrate. They're all fox heads rather than the usual yellow smiley face. The fox ones are easier for me because they are more interesting looking. On this forum, I'm starting to try the yellow ones.

They can be confusing. I'm not good at expressions, but what I do is try to match myself as much as possible with the emoticon. For example, I tend to grin at times when others wouldn't. My advice would be to use them how you actually make expressions yourself. Doing it other people's way is too hard. Maybe one day.

Here is a guide on how I try to use them... Hopefully, this will give you some ideas.

Happy
Pleased
Not what I was expecting and not in a good way
Yeah, that flew over my head... What did you say?
My, my, my... How strange
I didn't get it
I managed to achieve something great!
(I don't know how to use this one)
(I don't know how to use this one)
(I don't know how to use this one)
(I don't know how to use this one)
(I don't know how to use this one)
(I don't know how to use this one)
(I don't know how to use this one)
(I don't know how to use this one)
Me too!
Yeah, okay, um... whatever you say
Alright! Great! Awesome!
Oh, wow!
I have a question...
I've got an idea!
Read this, it's important

I use them a lot! For me, they are much easier to understand than real faces.

I find it so hard to interpret emojis and hash tags.

Using emojiies feels as unnatural as real facial expressions.

I can understand them on a basic level.

Basically i can recognize the emotions from Inside Out; joy, sadness, disgust fear and anger

Learning to animate faces required me to closely observe facial expressions in many contexts and do a lot of research on the topic. I am generally able to understand emojis and faces rather well because of this, although I am still below average.

There's a difference between emojis and emoticons, and I think this thread is about emoticons. Emojis are various icons used in text, and contain many things like pictures of pizza, cat faces, and various other symbols to represent ideas. Emoji means "picture character" in Japanese. Emoticons are a subset of emojis, and are the face icons that represent emotions.

I don't really use them very much. The only one I use often is the laughing one when I find something extremely funny. It's still far easier to read emotions from emoticons in text than actual faces in conversation, since they're plainly visible and permanent, though there are a few of them which I still don't know what they mean.

Personally I have a good friend and it comforts me when she uses the smiling emoticon.

It indicates friendliness to me and that she genuinely enjoys conversation with me.

I can relatively understand all of them.

Really happy/excited
Happy/pleased
Sad/unhappy
Surprised
Shocked/scared
Confused
Cool
Angry
Silly, kidding around, making a joke.
Laughing
Crying, very sad or depressed.
Embarrassed.
Evil or very angry, having evil, devilish thoughts.
Evil, mischievous, or having "dirty" thoughts.
Eye roll, the look perfected by teens everywhere when you have just seen or heard something unbelievably dumb.
Winking, or "If you know what I mean".
Exclamation
Question
I have an idea!
Look at this.
indifferent, a "meh" face.
Being overly proud or happy about something, meant to be silly.
I'm a Ninja, or a reference to Ninjas.
I'm a joker. Making jokes. Playing pranks.
love.
I'm a nerd. I just said or did something nerdy.
Death. Doom. Despair. Poison. Disease.
Shame on you!
Star. Normally used to rate something, the higher the number of stars, the better it is. Most commonly used to rate movies, where means poor, means average, means very good, and or more means excellent.
The @ symbol.
I am a space alien. Take me to your leader.
I'm a bomb and I'm gonna explode!
Drunk, or "out of it".
I'm a piece of cheese?? Cheesy??
I've got a black eye. Ouch!
I'm a cyclops??
I'm a blinking cyclops??
I'm a clown. I'm clowning around. I'm funny (or creepy) like a clown.
I'm a monkey. I'm monkeying around. I'm copy people like a monkey. Monkey business.
I'm a pig. I ate like a pig. I like piggies. Oink!
I have big buck teeth. I'm a rabbit. I like rabbits. I own a pet rabbit. What's up, Doc?
I be a pirate! Arrrgh! I like pirates! Shiver me timbers! Or, I'm wearing an eye patch due to an injury or illness.
*PBBBBBTTTHHH!*
Keeping my mouth shut. Refusing to speak or open mouth.
Look to the right.
Look to the left.
Turning pale due to fear, shock, or illness.
cheering, put your hands in the air, wave 'em like ya just don't care!
I wear an afro, or making a reference to the 1970's e.g. disco.
Scratching my head because I'm puzzled, confused, or just have an itchy head.
Yes SIR!
I'm bouncy, or hyper. Can't keep still. I like bouncy things.
I'm feeling sunny (in a happy mood), or the weather is sunny.
I'm an albino. Or an albino bunny. The Easter Bunny!
I'm a cherry. I like cherries. The cherry on top. A cherry bomb?
I'm a cat. I like cats. I own a cat. Cats rule and dogs drool. Meow!
I'm the king! I rule!
I'm the queen! I rule!
I'm the joker! I'm a fool!
I'm the joker...IN COLOR!
Santa, Christmas, Happy Holidays, I'm feeling jolly, Ho ho ho!
Reindeer, Rudolph, I'm loyal like Santa's reindeer, I'm a dear little deer.
I'm the ruler of Egypt. I'm King Tut.
I'm a flower. I like flowers. Spring. Reference to the 1960's i.e. hippie.
I'm a geek. I have messy hair. I'm having a bad hair day.
I'm left-handed. It is good. I like it.
I'm right handed. It is good. I like it.
I'm Smurfette. I like Smurfette. Smurfette/Smurfs reference.
I'm a Smurf. I like Smurfs. Smurf reference.
I'm Brainy Smurf. I like Brainy Smurf. Brainy Smurf/Smurfs reference.
I'm Papa Smurf. I like Papa Smurf. I'm old and wise like Papa Smurf. Papa Smurf/Smurf reference.
I'm shaking. I'm too cold. I'm frightened. I need to cut back on the caffeine.
I'm shaking. I'm really hyper. I'm excited. I love my caffeine!
I'm spinning around. I'm dizzy. I like things that spin.
I'm colorful. I like colors. I'm flashy. I'm like having a 60's flashback, woaaahhh maaaaan.
I'm Spiderman, I like Spiderman, I like Marvel, Spiderman/Marvel reference.
I'm studying, I'm reading, I like to read, I'm book-smart.
I'm Batman. I'M THE GD BATMAN!!. I like Batman. I like DC. Batman/DC reference.
I'm a dwarf. I'm an elf. I like Link. I like playing Legend of Zelda. Reference to dwarfs/elves/Link/Legend of Zelda.
I'm an elephant. I like elephants. I have the memory of an elephant. Making an elephant joke.
I'm Rambo, I like Rambo/Sylvester Stallone, Sylvester Stallone/Rambo movie reference.
I'm a viking. I like vikings even though they really didn't wear horns. I like to sail across the ocean, explore strange new lands, plunder, pillage, terrorize and generally be bloodthirsty.
I play hockey, I like hockey, I watch hockey, reference to Canada or Canadians.
Dude, not cool!
I'm a DJ, I listen to DJ's, a club where a DJ is playing, rap or hip-hop music.
I'm a clownfish. I like clownfish. I own a pet clownfish. Finding Nemo reference.
I'm a fish. I like fish. I own a pet fish. Going fishing.
I'm a cook. I like to cook. I'm cooking. I wanna yummy ice cream! (thank you Aunt Blabby!)
Ka-CHING! Ka-CHING!
Grossed out. Disgusted. Sick. About to throw up.
I'm deep in thought. Or I just have an itchy chin.
Coffee. I like Coffee. Drinking coffee.
I swear (hic) ossfier, I wasn't car when I hit the drunk with my tree! (urp)
Huh???
ARRRGH!! I'M SO MAD I'M GOING TO SLAM MY HEAD REPEATEDLY AGAINST THIS WALL UNTIL I LOSE CONSCIOUSNESS!
A person wearing a dunce cap. A dunce is a person of low intelligence. It means "I think that I am a dunce", or may be used in reply to someone the poster thinks is a dunce, i.e. just said something very obvious.
The dunce cap was once commonly given to unruly schoolchildren to wear as punishment. Although many now think it is a cruel and humiliating way to get children to behave and/or get better grades in class, it is still occasionally shown for comical purposes in cartoons and other entertainment.
Duh! I am such a dumb person. Or, I think this person is very dumb because they just said something that is very obvious, so I reply "Well, duh!" in a sarcastic tone.
Worshiping. "We're not worthy!" (Wayne's World reference)
I need help.
Hmmmph.
"I don't know". Often a gesture of exasperation, as in "I give up", or "You just can't win", or "Why me?"
That's really cool!
Laughing so hard at something that you bury your head into your desk and slap it's surface with your hand or pound it with your fist.
Sleepy. Tired. What I feel right now after describing all of these smileys.

Off

I use way too many emojis.
I find them very useful for conveying mood in what I'm saying, which is something that can't always be conveyed through text.

Ex.

"You're horrible." = Insult.

"You're horrible. " = Joke/banter