Admit It, Emojis Are Just Making Us Lazy!

Admit It, Emojis Are Just Making Us Lazy!

They say writing is an art. And most people would agree. But then you read some books or articles that have been published and you hope fervently (and with alarm) that these writers are kept very, very far away from a computer or from any sort of device that could potentially give their words a platform.

So, yeah, it’s tricky being a writer nowadays. You get lumped with people who can barely string a sentence together and people who replace genuine emotions with emojis. Which brings me to why I am on about this. Today is World Emoji Day.

Yes, there’s a day in the world of celebrate emojis. Those tiny yellow circles with eyes and a mouth that communicate more and are used more than words. But hey, I am not ranting against these cutesy yellow things. Heck, I love my smiley chocolate ice cream emoji to bits. But it has made lazy writers out of us.

We scurry to a smiley instead of saying the word ‘happy’ or ‘ you give me butterflies in my stomach’. We hide behind a thumbs up when we want to say, ‘good job’ or ‘great going.’ We even use the thumbs up when we don’t want to say anything, you know, as acknowledgment. Of course, now we do have the option of choosing an emoji in our shade, so that’s a yay for representation.

For those that are easily excited, emojis offer a buffet to pick from. If you love something, you use the emoji with hearts for eyes, if you love something more, you pick the emoji with stars for eyes. If you want to express crazy love for something, you hit the button on that emoji with a vengeance so there are many of them. Which means there no place for words like cherished, treasured or worshipped.

The words sick (green emoji), angry (red emoji) and happy(3 emojis with different levels of smiles) are all expressed using only the icons. And don’t get me started about birthdays. Earlier, we would wish people, maybe even calling them. Now, we wish them on chat, adding the cracker or the cake emoji to really drum up the enthusiasm. And if you are particularly excited about the person’s birthday, you add the party hat because that is the way to know you are all about the celebration.

We’ve stopped using words to express love, laughter or happiness. I suggest a campaign called #LetsMakeWordsGreatAgain.

Nobody’s listening? Okay, I will see myself out.

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