Ever since Emoji’s were first introduced in 1998 and then made wildly popular in 2011 they have created a craze in our world. Entire conversations are had with just these tiny little pictures that somehow manage to get our intent and feelings across. They have become such a fixture in our lives that some can say that we have become obsessed, but the benefits of emoji’s far outweigh the disadvantages.
Back before the advent of emoji’s, texting was definitely more boring, words alone have never been enough to convey our emotions unless we type complete paragraphs, but who has time for that. A quick “OK” can mean almost anything leading people to over analyze every part of a message to try and find hidden intents and double meanings, but with emoji’s some of that is taken away. A smiling emoji can reassure people that the person isn’t annoyed with you or is being sarcastic and it takes a little bit of that doubt away.
Since technology has been such a fixture in the 21st century people text each other way more frequently rather than having face-to-face conversations, allowing them to convey their emotions in a less stressful way than doing it in person. One must worry that with so many additions to technology we shall eventually become nothing more than a group of people stuck to a screen never joining the real world and living in a virtual reality.
Although this has some cause for concern, it is just a part of the evolution that we as humans have gone through. Language has evolved over the thousands of years of civilization and this is just a part of that evolution. The Oxford dictionary’s word of the year in 2015 was the “face with tears of joy” emoji. These emoji’s have become so popular and prevalent in our culture that they are no longer considered “little pictures” but part of our language. They can be considered an extended version of the English language or even become a universal language that has no boundaries in any specific dialect.
