Exploring the emotions that people feel towards phage therapy through a representative sample video

13th of August 2018

Introduction

This report intends to explore what emotions people feel towards phage therapy. To get a representative sample, we found a very popular phage video on YouTube, entitled, “The Deadliest Being on Planet Earth- The Bacteriophage”. This video had 5.7 million views and to understand how people felt about phage therapy, we analysed 13,995 comments as a representative sample of 23,984 comments.1 By processing the comments in a program, we were able to pair comments to emojis. These emojis indicated feelings towards phage therapy in clear and easy to understand symbols. Several key emotion themes quickly emerged, and we have contextualised these emojis in relation to phage therapy below:

😷 Face with Medical Mask

This emoji is defined as a person who wears a surgical mask to avoid sickness or spreading disease.2 In the phage therapy context, this is an anomaly from the remaining emotion themes. This is because rather than reflecting an emotion, this emoji reflects debate and discussion about the medical benefits and risks of phage therapy. Example comments such as, “Utilizing viruses specifically to evolved to kill such bacteria is a viable option” and “This really is great! Our worst virus problem is the HIV phage!” demonstrate how some feel incredibly positive and view phage therapy as something with many potential benefits. However, it is also important to note that this emoji also symbolises discussion towards the risks of phage therapy. Comments such as, “What stops the virus from (eventually) evolving to attack human cells?” and, “Another idiotic gamble that could do the job the globalist want, to kill off mankind down to 500,000,000” highlight this. Overall, this emoji indicates that there is so much debate and discussion regarding the medical benefits and risks of phage therapy in this representative phage video.

👍 Thumbs Up

This emoji is defined as a thumbs-up gesture, which indicates approval.3 In the context of this video, it suggests people approve of phage therapy and they view it as a positive step forward. Comments such as, “this is the nanotech we were looking for” and, “modified phage could fix the genetic errors that have developed over time”. This highlights that many people are open to receiving phage therapy, as they see it as a revolutionary treatment that could solve many of the world’s genetic diseases and help treat millions of people. This emoji is the clearest signal of approval and praise towards phage therapy out of all the emojis that were tagged to the comments.

😳 Flushed Face

This emoji is defined as a flushed face due to blushing or embarrassment.4 However, in the context of phage therapy, it suggests worry. This is evidenced through comments that were tagged with this emoji, such as, “Is there a chance the phage can evolve into an unstoppable super virus” and, “What about the possibility that bacteriophage hides in our nervous system & then evolving itself to attack human cells”. This reflects that there are serious worries and concerns towards phage therapy. This can suggest that the general publics need more information about the safety of phage therapy in relation to how it counteracts with other cells.

☹️ Frowning Face

This emoji is defined as a frowning face with an unhappy mouth.5 In the context of phage therapy, this indicates an emotion of unhappiness towards phage therapy, also linked with feelings of distrust. This is highlighted in comments such as, “I’m a little hesitant about injecting bacteriophages. Viruses are very good at mutating” and, “It’s [phage] always evolving to kill bacteria. Why wouldn’t it evolve to kill our cells”. Similar to the worry emotions in “flushed face”, “frowning face” shares similar characteristics. This reflects that there is still serious caution towards phage therapy by some people, especially when considering the risks of mutation.

👀 Eyes

This emoji is defined as a pair of eyes, indicating curiosity.6 In this context, it suggests suspicion towards phage therapy. This is reflected in comments such as, “What if they evolve and attack our cells” and, “I suspect this is how super-phage take over our body.” This highlights that there is concern over the negative effects and potential risks of phage therapy, thus why people are suspicious about receiving phage therapy.

💔 Broken Heart

This emoji is defined as a broken heart, indicating aching and loss.7 In this context, it links to the idea of death and loss as a result of phage therapy. This is reflected in comments such as, “SO I’M GONNA DIE?!?!” and, “CANCER?”. This highlights a clear mis-information on the topic of phage therapy, as some people are jumping to conclusions that there is a link between phage therapy and cancer/death. This suggests the need to have more accurate information available to the publics regarding phage therapy.

👏 Clapping Hands

This emoji is defined as two hands clapping, indicating applause.8 In this context, it indicates praise and applause towards the idea of phage therapy. This is highlighted in comments such as, “That [the phage therapy concept] was amazing!” and, “WOW!”. This reflects that some people in this sample are incredibly impressed and positive towards phage therapy, suggesting they would like to learn more about it and see the introduction of phage therapy on a wider scale.

🔫 Pistol

This emoji is defined as a pistol, indicating violence and killing.9 Similar to, “Face with Medical Mask”, “Pistol” is also an anomaly and is not an emotion, but rather a discussion around the themes of violence and killing. This is reflected in comment such as, “Phage- a simple yet deadly organism- this could change everything!” and, “Could the phage evolve so much that they could kill us”. This highlights that a key concept that people see in phage therapy is the phage’s ability to kill. This can be seen as positive, if it is killing harmful bacteria, but also suggests fear that as the quoted comment mentioned, the phage could kill humans.

🎶 Musical Notes

This emoji is defined as musical notes, indicating singing or music.10 Again, like, “Pistol”, this is not an emotion, but rather an expression of opinions through music. While it may seem odd that this theme is common in a phage therapy video, our analysis suggests that people use song lyrics to convey their feelings and emotions towards phage therapy. Examples of this include, “ What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” in reference to Kelly Clarkson’s hit song, reflecting positive opinions towards phage therapy, expressed through positive song lyrics.

😡 Pouting Face

This emoji is defined as the pouting face, showing displeasure with a person or situation. It often indicated madness or anger.11 In this context, it highlights serious concern with phage therapy. This is highlighted in comments such as, “When they [phage] develop ways to attack human cells, we get an even worse enemy” and, “Couldn’t the phage evolve to be more effective against humans for better survival rates”. This reflects that particularly when focussing on phage evolution and the human health, there are serious concerns towards the long-term safety of phage therapy.

Data analysis

After we defined, evidenced and explained all the key emoji emotion themes and debates, we then analysed the data to see which emojis were the most used. We recorded this data and produced a graph (figure 1.0).