A university student experiences a low score, a perfect score, a breakup, a new relationship, money problems or buying something new. Before speaking to anyone, many will text a crying, laughing, or relaxed emoji to their friends.
Instead of expressing their own feelings directly, young Koreans increasingly use text messaging, Facebook and watch Observational TV programs.
The Bbang bbang emoji is a series of emoticons for KakaoTalk.
The bald, big eyed, character in a green t-shirt and jeans is popular. He can be happy, joyful, frustrated or confused or can say ‘I want to do nothing’ or ‘It’s dangerous outside of my security blanket. Many of the emoticons also include text such as ‘넵’ or ‘yup’ to save texting time.
The Seowon University facebook page publishes anonymous confessional messages from students.
They can confess almost anything. Students forward their messages to the web page manager who posts it on the page anonymously.
By posting it, they share their feeling indirectly with many people. When other students read those messages, they realize that other students feel the same way. It reduces feelings of anxiety and isolation.
Observational TV programs record the daily lives of celebrities or their families. The show panel, sometimes including the show producer, discusses the video to understand how they live.
‘Omniscient interference view point (OIVP) and ‘I live by myself’ are very popular. In OIVP, cameras will follow the subject 24 hours a day. In this program, cast members watch their own daily video or guest’s video and make comments. Through it, people share their daily life and get feedback from television viewers.
However, emojis, social media, and reality television are becoming substitutes for face-to-face human emotions in an increasingly desolate social atmosphere.
I want people to be able to express their own feelings and not symbols, messages, or television programs.
