The colourful world of emoji has helped galvanise words into action. I’d have to admit, emoji can elevate meaning and convey tone with the faces, hand gestures… and even replace words altogether with symbols and objects. Therein lies a very fine line to tread before failing at emoji courtesy. Imagine being at the receiving end of these texts, where it looks like an emoji zoo on steroids was unleashed upon you. What would you perceive of it?
The consequences of replacing words with emoji
Of course, people the world over of all ages are keying in emoji. It flows naturally into everyday communication. How can any bad consequence come out of using it? A CNBC article years ago spoke of using emoji and voiced its fears of it taking over the written language. Whatever happened to plain English speak? The very idea of this article came to mind recently due to an incident after an introduction to a new friend. She seemed mature and level headed, conducting herself with aplomb after rounds of drinks and banter. Then the egg cracked wide open the next day when this lady texted me. The content, for lack of a better word, constituted rows of smileys, celebration fireworks, more smileys, a coffee cup and several question marks. Too much? Hells yes.
When emoji speak becomes verbal diarrhoea
The definition of overdoing emoji simply stems from a person’s intellect. How many times have you browsed through Facebook or your favourite social media, and found severe degradation of the English language? At this very moment, live examples from my social media feed show that “that” becomes “tht” or “tat”, “recently” becomes “risenly” and that apparently one exclamation mark has progressed to “!!!!!!!!!!” Make no mistake, it is very clear to all which particular area you’re lacking knowledge in. The simple fact is that people who lack a certain grasp of the language they’re using (or abusing) shouldn’t replace words with emoji.
What does it say about your frame of mind?
Browse through the statuses and posts of your friends. Look at them through neutral eyes. Do those with a ton of emoji suggest maturity or emotional stability? They probably seem like an energetic bunch of budgies to you. What of forming new friendships or developing relationships in the throes of young love? Maybe there was an ongoing conversation with someone you really liked and they simply stopped engaging with you? The bald truth about this is they lost interest at some point leading up to that moment. Perhaps they couldn’t find a direct conduit to their agenda. Maybe your interests lie few and far in between. Or perhaps, they couldn’t get past their annoyance with the perpetual flow of nonsensical typo.
Bear in mind that it takes just a few moments for every new person you meet to make up their minds about you. That person may be a new comrade-in-arms, a potential business candidate or even the love of your life. So why murk the chances of making this a successful new acquaintance? Let me assure you, you do not need emoji as a leg to stand on or to express your sentiments. Every individual is made unique, and yes even though we may continue expressing ourselves in the pictorial language of emoji, monitor the use of it or it may run well ahead of your command to the point where it even suppresses the true you!
