Are emojis a good way to communicate?
Some people think emojis are ruining how people interact.
When emojis were officially made a part of mobile phone keyboards in the early 2010s, they very quickly became a part of languages across the world. By 2018, it was found that six billion emojis were being sent every day, and three quarters of adults used emojis in messages. You can use emojis to express emotions by showing facial expressions, or you can show you care about someone by adding a heart to the end of a message. As more and more emojis are added to the collection, they have developed their own meaning and formed their own language. However, some people don’t like emojis, and believe they should not be a substitute for words. What do you think? Are emojis ruining language, or are they a good way to communicate?
Yes – they make messaging easier and fun
When messaging someone, it’s important to make sure that they understand what you’re trying to say. If someone is making a joke, that should be clear, and the same for when it’s a serious conversation. Emojis provide a helpful way to show the facial expressions people might use in a real-life conversation. They also make the way that people communicate via messages so much better, allowing them to enhance their words with tiny illustrations. Silly emojis, related to whatever people are chatting about, can make an exchange funnier. Also, when people are not able to speak face to face, such as during the lockdowns in the Covid-19 pandemic, emojis can help people feel more connected with one another.
No – using them is lazy
Not everyone has the same brand of phone or computer, which means that emojis don’t look exactly the same on all devices. The meaning of an emoji sent from one person to another may become lost in translation if the image changes and doesn’t look how the sender intended it to. These little images have become a replacement for words and this has led to laziness when communicating with others: using a heart emoji instead of telling someone you love them shows a lack of effort. Many emojis are over the top, and in any case, no one would ever make all those facial expressions during a conversation. People should stick to using words when they send messages – no pictures necessary.