JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Adolescents increasingly use text-based message platforms to communicate with both parents and peers. Users of such platforms often use emojis to communicate nonverbal information about message intentions or tone, but interpretation of emojis can generate confusion. This may exacerbate existing sources of miscommunication between adolescents and parents.

Objective:

We aimed to better understand how adolescents choose and interpret emojis used in text communication.

Methods:

We conducted online focus groups with adolescents, in which we asked questions about the use and interpretation of emojis. We then followed a constant comparative coding procedure to identify themes in the discussion.

Results:

We conducted 5 focus groups with 31 adolescent participants (mean age = 16.5, SD = 1.5). Discussion in the groups generally fell into four themes: (1) rejection of emojis to communicate emotion, (2) emojis as having context-dependent meanings, (3) emojis as meaningless and/or absurd, and (4) emoji use to communicate sincere emotion. Across themes, participants often described important differences between their own emoji use and emoji use by adults.

Conclusions:

Adolescents described their own emoji use as complex, absurd, and often infused with irony or sarcasm. These differences are an important consideration for parents and other adults who communicate with adolescents through text-based messaging platforms or who observe communication between adolescents on such platforms. We recommend that parents be cautious when interpreting emojis sent by adolescents, particularly when those emojis are sent in the context of adolescent-to-adolescent communication.