Producing Irony in Adolescence: A Comparison Between Face-to-Face and Computer-Mediated Communication

Abstract

The literature suggests that irony production expands in the developmental period of adolescence. We aimed to test this hypothesis by investigating two channels: face-to-face and computer-mediated communication (CMC). Corpora were collected by asking seventh and 11th graders to freely discuss some general topics (e.g., music), either face-to-face or on online forums. Results showed that 6.2% of the 11th graders’ productions were ironic utterances, compared with just 2.5% of the seventh graders’ productions, confirming the major development of irony production in adolescence. Results also showed that adolescents produced more ironic utterances in CMC than face-to-face. The analysis suggested that irony use is a strategy for increasing in-group solidarity and compensating for the distance intrinsic to CMC, as it was mostly inclusive and well-marked on forums. The present study also confirmed previous studies showing that irony is compatible with CMC.

“Wonderful! We’ve just missed the bus.” – Parental use of irony and children’s irony comprehension

“…Although development of irony production mainly takes place in adolescence [7]. comprehension of irony emerges much earlier in childhood and develops throughout adolescence and adulthood.…”

Irony and autism: a preliminary study of the impact of visual stimulus (Ironía y autismo: un estudio preliminar del impacto de los estímulos visuales)

“…La hipótesis 1 fue confirmada. Los resultados indicaron que las respuestas fueron similares en ambos grupos, y que las personas con autismo fueron capaces de entender la base fundamental de una ironía presentada en formato visual, siguiendo la línea que otros autores ya remarcaron en sus estudios (Colitch et al, 2012;Glenwright & Agbayewa, 2012;Wang et al, 2006) Otra explicación posible, acerca de la similitud encontrada, podría deberse justamente a la edad de los participantes, ya que se trataba de una población preadolescente y adolescente (y con diagnóstico de autismo nivel 1), y en términos evolutivos, las ironías y las bromas se encontrarían en un estadio ya alcanzado por la mayoría de los participantes (Aguert et al, 2016;Harris & Pexman, 2003;Pexman et al, 2011).…”

From likes to love: trust catalysing the digital romantic journey

“…Previous literature shows that online trust enhances an individual's SD (Wang et al, 2004;Cho, 2006) and the willingness to commit (Cho, 2006). The rules of love or more pointedly, socialisation remain distinctly the same when relating to trust, whether it is online or f2f (Aguert et al, 2016). In f2f relationships, physical proximity is high, resulting in chances of enhanced trust between two people which is absent in virtual relationships or online dating (Handy, 1995).…”