Emoji – The Millennial Language

The age of social media has given birth to a new language – the emoji language. An emoji is a visual representation of feelings, emotions or idea used on social media platform. These cute little emojis have taken over the digital space like a storm. It is impossible to detach our conversations from smiley faces, applauding hands and stomping dancers in today’s times. Emojis have become such an integral part of our day to day lives that now to honor them we mark every 17^th July as the World Emoji Day, that encourages us to use as many emojis as possible.

Emoji Language

You’ll be surprised to know that emojis exist in our world since the 1990’s when a Japanese telecom firm created them to make it easier for their customers to communicate through mobile phones. Effect of emoji in digital communication is same as a shrug or nod in a face to face conversation. The sea of emojis act like punctuation to our feelings like joy, fun, laughter or sadness in a conversation. Emojis are now so well accepted by everybody that they now find a space in the Oxford dictionary’s ‘Word of the Year.’ It is interesting to know that the 2015 word of the year was face-with-tears-of-joy emoji!

2015 Oxford Dictionary Word of the year

Social Media

Instagram, Facebook or twitter, all these social media platforms are drenched with emojis. It is difficult to imagine a post or a comment without an emoji. Emojis have the power to express a gamut of emotions with just one cute little smiley or icons available in all shapes and all colours. The emoji fad took off in 2010s with the upsurge of social media. Facebook has now incorporated several emojis to express your emotions or feelings. 

Expressive

Emojis add new dynamic to conversations. They limit the array of misunderstanding and aid clear exchange of words, ideas and feelings. They have become even more expressive than words. Many a times, it is convenient to send an emoji instead of typing big sentences and choosing the appropriate words. They have become a standard part of communication, because naturally everyone would prefer to express themselves in better way, briefly, effectively and clearly. Emojis give wings to our words and flight to our feelings.

Personality Traits

Emojis are a boon for social media. The emojis you use describe a lot about your personality. It’s easy to read someone only by the emojis they use. People who use emoji are more social, approachable and empathetic. They are more friendly, fun loving, jovial and humorous. Since, youngsters were exposed to digital communication right in their childhood; they tend to use emojis more often. While conversing over the net, when we can’t see the person whom we are talking to, the emojis they use act as cues which help us understand their mental state.

Visual Age

Emojis are the perfect communication tools in this visual age. The playful, vibrant and colorful emojis wisely and smartly convey humor, sarcasm, anger or laughter. They lighten up the mood. Let’s admit it; we all drool over these uber cute emojis. In fact, emojis are so popular that the commercial sector is banking on them. Nowadays, we can easily find emoji printed t-shirts or handbags or even bed sheets. Well, demand for emoji shaped cake is quite high. Undoubtedly, emojis have won our hearts!!!!