I know that with today being July 17: World Emoji Day – #worldemojiday Charlie and his friends will be sending all kinds of messages to each other using emojis. I can tell you that I bet you a dollar bill to a 10 dollar bill that the emoji they send the most today will be the poop emoji. If you plan on sending messages today and using emojis which emoji will you use the most and why?
Communication in the Internet Age now goes far beyond pressing send on a simple text message. Check your Social Media feeds or text messages. Look at how many smiley faces, flying hearts, Avocados, and Unicorns you see? These iconic little Japanese images, known as emoji, are more popular on the internet today than ever before.
So naturally, emojis have their own special day. Recognized on July 17th, World Emoji Day is a holiday that validates our obsession over these ubiquitous graphic icons. While sometimes emojis may seem silly, according to various psychologists and researchers, emojis may play a vital role in the way we communicate today. In fact, Oxford Dictionary’s Word of the Year for 2015 was the emoji. Tae time today to light up your friends’ phones with all the emojis you want today. It’s a healthy obsession.
WORLD EMOJI DAY ACTIVITIES
- Challenge your emoji knowledge by having an emoji-filled message stream with your best friend. See how well you can understand each other using only emoji icons. Who knew you could have a whole conversation without any words?
- You can turn your favorite photos into shareable emojis using various apps and online tools. You can finally turn your favorite photo of your dog or cat into an emoji (since we already know you send too many pictures of them anyway)!
- Create your own customized emoji-filled t-shirt or purchase one through a vendor online (check out Amazon for some ideas). Your favorite emoji can become your new favorite t-shirt.
WHY PEOPLE LOVE WORLD EMOJI DAY
- Language comes in many forms and one of most ancient types of language is visual symbols. Emojis are unique in that they are visual symbols that help enhance our written language. Emojis can replace words or whole phrases and still be understood.
- Emojis were originally created as a way to symbolize emotions with pictures. Similar to punctuation, emojis express emotion through irony or humor and even suggest tone of voice or body language in text-based communication.
- Emojis trigger emotional responses in people, which can cause us to be more empathetic. Basically, as we become better in identifying our emotions, we also become better at sensing others’ emotions. Looks like “emoji-tional empathy” is trending.
- Emojis help us better understand something visually when things can get lost in translation through words. In the Internet Age, emojis help us communicate better and faster. Emojis are cute and kind of addicting to use but emojis serve a much greater purpose. Emojis improve our capacity to communicate effectively with others and make our intended meaning be known. When in doubt, emoji it out!
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David cates
