Have We Regressed Back To Writing On Cave Walls?
Who decided that instead of actually using words to communicate we should revert back to prehistoric times and communicate like cavemen writing on each other’s walls with drawings?
Don’t get me wrong, I love a good happy face.
Who doesn’t?
The Happy Face, Smiley was the face of the 1970’s. Invented by Harvey Ross Ball, an ad man in 1963 to raise morale for an insurance company and then appropriated Bernard and Murray Spain, brothers and owners of Hallmark stores in 1971 with the addition of the slogan “Have a Happy Day” the yellow face became an iconic symbol of the hippie generation.
Later a Frenchman, Franklin Loufranisaw the financial opportunity within and trademarked the image for commercial exploitation dubbing it “Smiley”.
Now commonly seen in Walmart, as the stamped image on illegal drugs, on t-shirts and most notably as of late on our phones the smiley face is the basis of the emojis that 72% of youths between 18-25 prefer to use to express their feelings over written words.
Reading some of my text messages is like trying to decipher hieroglyphics. I need a Rosetta Stone to translate for me.
I have no idea what some of these are supposed to mean.
Sometimes emojis frustrate me.
I will admit I use emojis when I want to be sure someone understands I’m being ironic or am joking.
Let’s face it, on the internet everything is flat and without intonation, much is lost in translation. Adding emojis can be useful to express emotions to text that is seen on a bright screen and void of human feeling.
I do not however, use emojis in place of conversation or the written word.
In fact, I’ve taken to using emojis to end a conversation.
I’ll write, “Man Wearing Turban, Panda Bear, Panda Bear, Panda Bear, Dancer in Red Dress, Pig, Dog, Monkey, Alien Face, Tongue, Ghost With Tongue Out, Squirrel, Flower, Frog, Lips,”
and then wait to see if they have the guts to respond.
Do you enjoy using emojis?
Do you ever have a hard time understanding what they’re supposed to mean?
It’s a little childish, I’ll admit. But I think they can help since written communication can miss all of the tonal details that our voices have??
Either that or we are going bonkers….
XOXO
Jodie
http://www.jtouchofstyle.com
Hahahaha… I love an emoji!
My humour/meaning can sometimes be lost, especially in text form, so I rely heavily on the emoji to help me out.
Some well-placed emojis can say so much more than words.
Plus it’s fun to decipher!
The poo emoji is my favourite.
Funnily enough, I use it only when talking about actual poo… or certain people’s conversations (usually prefixed with an ox (no bull emoji, but it’s close enough!)
XXX
Samantha
I used to wonder why people left me squares as comments on IG until someone told me it’s because I used Instagram on my PC and they’re emojis, which can only be seen if you use a smart phone.
I can’t see the point of them. What’s wrong with words? Honestly, it feels like as a society we’re getting lazier and lazier if we can’t be arsed to write anything meaningful. xxx
They do frustrate me as well, Suzanne! I don’t even know what the majority of them mean. Like you, I only use them, sparingly, when I want to indicate that I’m joking. Even worse than the emojis is the fact that lots of people are too … lazy, I don’t know, to write whole words, and use these abbreviations instead, like U for you. The list is endless. It looks like we’re really reverting back to cavemen and women! xxx
first – no smartphone in use. and most of my friends still write whole sentences in sms.
IF i use emojis then its like you do – to mark ironic text or a joke or to underline that i feel joy while writing my words down…….
🙂 🙂 🙂
xxxx
I think emojis can avoid all kinds of trouble when writing humour in email or navigating a sticky situation. Of course a meaning could be written out so an emoji is not needed, which would require real thought (!), but then you risk textbook territory if your brain is not on. Why bother? I like to insert my own laugh tracks with “Hahaha!” anyway, in case nobody else laughs.
I use emojis on IG if I am far behind, just as a “I was here” thing. And I don’t like having to choose the skin-colour of clapping hands or thumbs-ups, etc. They should all be green and blue and plaid. Seriously? Why not include fingernail shape and earlobe characteristics, while they’re at it?
And a cool fact, not really related, heh, is that scientists have said that many of those famous cave paintings were done by women. HA!
I rarely use them, Suzanne, because I don’t find it easy to understand what they’re supposed to mean! My daughter uses them a lot and I have to really peer at the faces to decipher what their expression is meant to denote – I usually can’t get it….
I like using them on IG- the pretty ones like birthday cakes. Are they classed as emojis? Otherwise no. We must preserve the integrity of proper sentences 😀
Haha. I love the happy face emoji, but that’s the only one I know how to do on my computer. 🙂
Probably because I’m old, I’ve never used emojis. I don’t look down on them, just don’t see how they enhance communication. When receiving a string of them, I’m utterly confused as to what is being said or implied. To put this in context, I don’t text or use abbreviations (e.g., “BRB”) either; it’s not that hard to write out actual words and use grammar.
I don’t use emojis. Some of them have secret, naughty meanings and I don’t want to accidentally imply something. I kind of have a hard time seeing them and telling them apart, anyway – the bifocal days are coming.
Cher is on twitter and I follow her because she’s awesome. However, she uses so many emojis in her tweets that I have no idea what she’s saying. It’s crazy.
Maybe our age is showing?
I also feel frustrated when my sideways smiley is turned into a picture automatically!
I also am guilty of typing whole words and sentences in texts/SMS.
I also use punctuation like …, !!!, ???, and !?!? to indicate emotion. Maybe they were the first emojis?!
xo Jazzy Jack
The only ones I use on IG are the “eye wink”, so that someone knows I’m joking, and the occasional laughing one. It’s sad that since so much of our communication is written, on screens, we have to have cartoon facial expressions so the recipients know the emotional intent of our words…
I love the written word but am a lousy typist, so I am guilty as charged. I use emojis wantonly, but I also use words like wantonly…
I agree with Mel about the clapping emoji, plaid please.. or rainbows.
Yes, rainbows!
And I overdo the heart emoji… I like red!
❤️❤️❤️
Elle
https://theellediaries.com/
LOL love this post! I am not an instinctive emoji user except the laughing one if I think it needs to be used to make it clear I have said something in jest. If sometimes think I am so behind the times I toss in the smiley or the crazy face at the end of a quick message just so I look like I am hip and with it. My partner and I do use hearts and kissy faces with each other though he uses them more than I do. I think mainly I use them when I do because I am trying to speak the language everyone else is speaking. Still, I definitely don’t speak this language fluently.
I actually enjoy using emojis- but only to enhance a comment or message I have written in full. For example I’ll add a smiley face onto the end of a joke, or a heart eyes when I am commenting on someone’s gorgeous outfit. But, I refrain from commenting using ONLY an emoji. It’s just so spammy and lazy to not bother to write out an actual message or comment and just post an emoji.
I really enjoy writing and the Emojis just don’t jangle my chains. I love the original Smiley; he’s my dude!
I do like “Bitmojis” a lot though! Wierd huh?
I am with you and Samantha. I use emojis to add a “tone” to my flat words so they won’t be misconstrued. I don’t mind rhem and I hardly ever get messages with lots of them in the message. So I am good 😇🙃 haha.
Greetje
I used to be super anti-emojis until I started using Instagram and realized I could convey a message along with a pic without using words because I’m being just plain lazy.