Life

Radio review: Assessing the power of the emoji

Nuala McCann

Nuala McCann

Nuala McCann is an Irish News columnist and writes a weekly radio review.

Nuala McCann
Nuala McCann Nuala McCann

You and Yours Radio 4

All in the Mind Radio 4

When you text an emoji wink, you are doing your relationship no end of good... I kid you not .. nudge, nudge, wink wink.

Just leave the aubergine or eggplant out of it.

Viv Evans, a professor in linguistics and communications, believes in the power of the emoji.

On You and Yours, he waxed lyrical on the magical importance of the little visual sign.

For example, if you want to apologise to somebody, you make the sentiment more powerful by adding a bunch of flowers emoji ... certainly costs less than the petrol station black bucket variety.

Or perhaps you are away and texting your spouse: “Have you fed the cat?”

And he/she replies with a little emoji cat – it’s all about rapport and banter says Viv.

This jury is out on emojis. To those who sext, the aubergine is hugely significant and is the rudest fruit in town.

Viv said it got banned on instagram at one stage.

The most used emojis are the love hearts and the wink. I favour the big thumb up and the words: “Right so, Ted.”

Still, it all seems way too easy, what happened to the days when lovers sat down and wrote each other sonnets – Petrarchan or Alexandrian? Quatrains or rhyming couplets? That required a shovel load more commitment and discipline than clicking a picture of a wink. Huh.

All in the Mind used a packet of mints to demonstrate how we are influenced by confident people.

Apparently, not only do we believe in the people who seem the most confident but our brains tune into them.

People that look confident send out all sorts of social signals and people follow them.

Psychologist Dr Dan Campbell-Meiklejohn scanned people’s brains and discovered they assess the confidence of others using a specific part at the front of the brain.

The message seemed to be the old one about going in there and sounding like you know what you are talking about. TV presenters get away with it every day.

As Maria sang in the Sound of Music, just whistle a happy tune.