Trivial Pursuits: I just don't get it

By: 
Jamie Hult, Staff writer
With every one of the little digital images I see in my text messages, on social media or emblazoned across some tween impulse buy item, I’m more and more convinced that by the end of next week, emojis will have taken over the world. 
What started as a silly iPhone feature has invaded our lives. Emojis are everywhere, from T-shirts and backpacks to bumper stickers and bedspreads. At my house alone there are emoji Band-Aids, emoji pencils, emoji pillows and emoji tumblers.   
Amazon has 234,840 emoji items. You can buy an emoji waffle maker. Emoji Chia pets. Emoji cookie cutters. Wall hangings embroidered with your favorite emoji. Uno Emoji. And my personal favorite: Custom poop emoji shoes.
A few weeks back I took my 7-year-old and her buddy to see The Emoji Movie. The girls prepped by markering their foreheads and cheeks with emoji faves. Leaving the theater it was clear the film had only fueled their need to see emojis and think about emojis. Yet all I could think was: Why was this movie made and who do I have to hunt down and beat about the head and ears to get my 18 dollars back?
But, to the larger point: What’s the deal with the emoji craze?
According to Emojipedia, there are over 1,000 of them in the Unicode Standard, and new ones keep coming. 
I used to think it was a kid thing. Then my mom started using them in texts. She’s 61 and barely grasps simple smartphone stuff, like attaching a pic to an email, but accessing her phone’s emoji library is easy-peasy. Mom’s texts often come with an assortment. She likes heart eyes best but mixes it up with the occasional OK hand or the heart with arrow. Sure, they’re cute, but ... what happened to words? 
I’m vaguely reminded by the “Have a nice day” smiley face fad from the 1970s. Despite the emotional range of emoji expressions (winky, frowny, kissy, teary, scaredy, and so on), today’s digital counterparts don’t say a thing. 
Or do they? 
I know it’s my love for the English language and proper grammar that’s making me turn up my nose at the cutesy symbols. Emojis have practically become a second language, with people texting and tweeting them in place of actual words. To me it’s an extension of textspeak, and the possibility that my daughter and subsequent generations will grow up knowing LOL, OMG and JK but not the parts of speech is frightening. 
While I am, admittedly, a grammar geek, and while I do, admittedly, seem to be doing an awful lot of complaining, I don’t begrudge someone the occasional emoji. I can’t afford to. My boss’s go-to for “sounds good” is the thumbs up.  
Do emojis make texting easier and faster? Sure. Typing crying face next to toothy smile face next to blushing face is quicker and more to the point than saying, “I have mixed feelings about that.” At the same time, being on the receiving end of 15 smiley faces in a row or a random picture of a rooster can be outright annoying.
In three weeks my kiddo turns 8, and guess what the party theme is? While I adore making and decorating her birthday cakes, I’m struggling to muster up even a medium enthusiasm for emoji.
But I’ll warm up to it. I’m trying. Next week I’ll do the annual birthday party Pinterest search for inspiration. Watching my daughter’s face when she sees the sea of emoji edibles and décor will make it all worth it.
While I may never understand the emoji appeal, and while I’ll probably never sub one in place of a word (it’s the writer in me) – to those who use emojis and love them, I can’t deny anybody their right to expression (that’s also the writer in me). 
So, emoji diehards, carry on. The world is your oyster – just as long as that world isn’t run by emojis by, say, the end of next week. 

Category:

The Brandon Valley Journal

 

The Brandon Valley Journal
1404 E. Cedar St.
Brandon, SD 57005
(605) 582-9999

Email Us

Facebook Twitter

Please Login for Premium Content