They can be offensive
The world of emojis has become weirder as new generations emerge and the meanings of emojis change. Emojis have always been a way for us to communicate quickly. The internet provided this easy form of messaging and enabled us to use images to communicate longer messages more concisely. It is a simple and quick method of communication, and even baby boomers and Generation X loved this method.
MSN Messenger was the first tool that started the emoji phase. In the era of dial-up connections, where the internet would cut off if someone picked up the house phone, emojis were there to make what we were saying faster. Emojis are meant to be fun and create a new way to communicate, but now the way emojis are being used has made people realise what they are saying. Communicating through emojis is difficult, as one emoji can mean three different things, and now people have to be careful when sending them to work colleagues and even their superiors.
When the Netflix hit TV series Adolescents came out, it struck many older people how the use of emojis has changed and how young people are now using them to communicate. The ok emoji has many meanings, and it is changing all the time. The ok emoji can represent a neo nazi sign or white supremacy, but if you want to watch sports such as basketball, it is the emoji that you use when Steph Curry scores a three-pointer. Being careful about which emojis you use is very important because if you send the ok or pill emojis to a colleague, they might interpret it differently, and they might even report you to HR for taking drugs or being radicalised.
The world of emojis is different now, but is it really? Have we not been communicating in codes since the Second World War? Morse code was communicated using signals so that other countries would not understand Britain’s messages during the war, and this is similar to what young people are doing now. Young people do not want their parents to know what they are saying to each other, and using emojis is an easy and safer way to convey their messages to their peers. Parents are now starting to catch on and read between the lines to spot the emojis that are commonly used.
People without children might find spotting these key emojis difficult, as they are not used to the everyday texting slang used by young people. Even so, some parents should be careful what they send in their WhatsApp group, because the interpretation of simple emojis can be rude and could even get you removed from the group chat. We need to be careful when using certain emojis because they can have an impact, and we should stick to basic emojis.
