Abstract:

The current study aims at revealing if people in covid-19 times express positive or negative emotions and if their type of communication affects their manner of writing. About 295 students, females and males were included in the research. The participants were divided into two groups where the one group write a short text in print and then electronically and the other group the opposite. The correlational design was used in the current study to better clarify if the emotions were positive or negative in both written and electronic texts. Furthermore, it compared the emotions expressed between female and male participants in both types of writing. Moreover, the similarities and differences between electronic and written texts were examined as regards the linguistic elements used and, finally, the people to whom the participants address were examined in relation to the emotions being expressed towards them. The survey indicated that the emotions expressed are mainly positive, such as love and optimism, while male and female participants did not observe significant differences as regards the positive and negative emotions. Electronic and written texts did not appear significant differences in linguistic use, apart from that in electronic texts emoticons tended to be used more frequently. Finally, both male and female participants preferred to mention their friends or their partner and they were noticed to express positive emotions about them.

Keywords:

Written expression, screen, printed text, emotions.