Have you ever wondered what your chats will be like without emojis? They would be super boring, am I right? While chatting with friends, family members and even colleagues, there is an exchange of words, but most times there is a need for emotion to be expressed in the context of the conversations taking place.
Emojis are a super fun way people communicate. Interestingly, there are so many types of Emojis from the various yellow smiley faces, animals, hearts and many more.
Emojis have their root in Japan. Their name comes from the Japanese words for ‘picture’ and ‘characters.’
These tiny Emojis have helped play a major role in digital communication. Adobe’s global emoji study found that Emojis help people overcome language barriers and form connections that would otherwise be difficult to do. More than 90% of social networking users communicate through these symbols and more than 6 billion emojis are exchanged every day.
Language experts note that in emojis lies the ability to help people online say what they mean. For instance when people write “Not cool bro”, they can signify with the one raise eyebrow emoji or an angry-faced emoji depending on whether the statement is an expression or outrage.
Although emoji communication can be super fun, the way we primarily communicate in person doesn’t accommodate full body language. Technology has somewhat reduced face-to-face conversations, leaving us to focus on our computer screens and speedy thumbs.
While emojis might be a global digital way of communicating, it is still perceived differently by a lot of people.
Speaking with CRESTHUB, Tiger Kennedy a graduate from the University of Jos said “Emojis makes chatting so much better. If they ever left, messaging online will be no fun. I cannot have a complete conversation with family and friends without them. It helps me to express myself in a more in-depth way, full of emotions. But aside this, I do prefer physical conversations with people because I love seeing how they respond to me impromptu”.
Weng Cabala, a 100l mass communication student also said, “Emojis are super cool. Not all expressions are perfect but they portray 95% of what I’m feeling. They’re not absolutely necessary in conversations, but they make them alive and so much fun. For example, if I tell someone ‘This is not funny’, I use the laughing emoji or the frowny sarcastic emoji.”
She also gave her take on using Emojis to converse with adults.
“I avoid using it while communicating with any adult online. That freedom is sort of restrained, and it would feel super weird especially if they do not understand it properly”.
With the wide spread and use of emojis it will be no surprise if it completely takes over English as the worlds online global language pretty soon. World Emoji Day has released its draft list for the next round of new emojis to be added to different devices and platforms. The final versions will roll out in late 2021 through 2022.
