The rise of the emoji
Putting the tone back in your text since 1982...
We need to talk
I need to eat
Want to go out?
What's emoji?
Emojis evolved from emoticons — a word which is the combined form of two words: Emotional icons.
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The word emoji comes from Japanese — the e of emoji means picture and the moji stands for letter or character. So, the definition of emoji is literally a “picture-word” (Danesi, 2016)
The birth of emoji
The birthplace of emoticons occurred back in 1982 when a group of researchers developed the smiley emoticon : ) to ensure people knew their messages were joking in nature (Davison, 2012). Fast forward 10 years later, the emoji emerged to make emoticons more picture like: So we get instead of :-).
Why so popular?
Emojis are everywhere. We even celebrate world emoji day on July 17th.
It begs the simple question, why?
As Bolter (1991) states, there has been a “readjustment of the ratio between text and image in the various forms of print … and the refashioning of prose itself in an attempt both to rival and incorporate the visual image” (Bolter, 1991, p. 48).
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Unlike the Print Age, which encouraged only alphabetic writing in most message forms, the Internet Age encourages different modes of writing (like visual) to be used along with alphabetic (and nonalphabetic) writing (Danesi, 2016).
This new kind of blended writing system offers new ways for people to express themselves in a fun and creative way.
How do emojis modify reading and writing processes?
What's their function?
Has this new and ubiquitous way of expressing ourselves using emojis modified reading and writing processes?
When we read the traditional printed page, we have to follow the order established by the writer and interpret the words the writer has used on the page (Kress, 2005).
Because readers have to interpret the meaning of the writer’s words, that meaning is often lost.
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If we look at common forms of communication in today’s Internet Age, people communicate in text known as “emailese,” “chat,” and “texting” (Dobson & Willinsky, 2009).
With these new forms of communication, we get speedier asynchronous and synchronous interactions, but this can often exacerbate meaning getting “lost in translation”.
In these more informal communications, where you have the words, but not the tone of voice (Thomson, 2016), emojis provide this tone of voice. They “serve as emotional punctuation, amplification, adding context, wordplay, nuance” (Danesi, 2016) and thus allow people to speak their minds while taking the edge off their messages. This isn’t surprising, since this has been their main usage since emoticons were first invented back in 1982.
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To sum up, their main use is primarily to enhance the positive tone of an informal message (Thompson, 2016).
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You smell
You smell
vs.
Thank you
What forms of knowing, or thinking, do emojis invite?
What does this new form of blended writing system mean for ways of knowing or thinking?
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As Snyder (1996) observes, "the space created by each writing technology permits certain kinds of thinking and discourages others."
Take traditional print, for example. Printed books lend themselves to more linear and literal modes of processing information. We only get one view, one page at a time (Bolter, 1991).
The online spaces where we use emojis break from this linear form of thinking and allow for more imaginative modes of thinking (Danesi, 2016). Kress (2005) also has a positive attitude towards this visual breakout, where images can break free of the constraint of words and tell their own stories.
Some studies have even shown that emoji use might have significant effects on neural processes (Danesi, 2016).
O’Neill (2013) found that we alter our facial expressions to match the emotion of the emoji, and without being aware, we end up copying the emoji expression. Also, the more graphic the emoji, the more our brain responds to it, suggesting that emojis may very well play a role in shaping cognition and potentially consciousness.
Are they making us dumber-er?
Bolter (1991) says that “words no longer seem to carry conviction without visuals.” Many take this idea as a sign that visuals in media, like the emoji, are decreasing human intelligence and contributing to the decline of literacy. Is this actually the case?
Are emojis making us “dumber-er”?
Throughout history, new technologies have often been greeted with skepticism (Ong, 2013). Writing, the printing press, the internet and emails… these are all examples of things that were predicted to lead to declining intelligence and general depravity. However, as Willinskey (2002) states, doom (and it’s opposite utopia) come into history far less often than we expect, usually with a muddle of losses and gains.
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In conclusion...
So are emojis contributing to the decline of literacy?
I believe the answer is no: ask anyone who uses emojis and most will tell you they only use them in informal communications, and not in more professional settings.
Perfect grammar is no longer necessary in certain forms of communication - this doesn’t mean we are less intelligent, it’s just means we’ve adapted and changed the way we communicate in various forums. Text isn't going anywhere... we're just adapting the way we communicate in various forums.