Those little symbols can go a long way in making connections.
Not too long ago, the art of courtship involved a nervous phone call and a few heart-pumping rings before a voice (hopefully) answered on the other end. Today, communication is mostly confined to premeditated text messages—and, according to a new study published in in the journal PLoS One, how frequently you use emojis plays a big part in your success at it.Researchers at The Kinsey Institute asked 5,327 single Americans between the ages of 18 to 94 to complete a survey about their sex and dating lives, including their emoji use specifically. Over a third (38 percent) of respondents said that they never use emojis when texting a potential love interest and 29 percent reported hardly ever using them. But 28 percent of respondents said they used them regularly, with 2.5 percent saying they use more than one in every text. And, most interestingly of all, the results also showed that those who used emojis went on more first dates and engaged in sexual activity more often than those who didn't.When asked what motivated these dating hopefuls to use emojis, the most common answers were "they give my text messages more personality" (53 percent), "it's easier for me to express my feelings" (24 percent), "it's faster and easier than writing a full message" (20 percent), and "it's trendy and other people use it" (13 percent).So, why, you might ask, would emoji use be linked to more connections with prospective romantic interests? The researchers hypothesize that it could be that the types of people who enjoy using emojis may have "traits that have been linked to better quality relationships, such as greater levels of emotional intelligence." It's also possible, they suggest, that "people who use emojis more often may be better at forming connections with others" and "demonstrating that they are more emotive."Which means that, if you're a little shy, using emojis could potentially be a good way of coming out of your shell a bit.
