EOTO Project - Emoticons/ Emoji's

    Emoticons, or you may know them as Emojis, have taken over within the online realm of communication. Emojis are relevant in text messages, tweets on twitter, posts on Instagram, snaps on snapchat, and so much more. Although you may believe emojis have been around for just a short time they actually have been around since the mid 1800s. Considering emojis have just recently began to become popular we have noticed major impacts within communication and society because of them. These impacts are both positive and negative, but in the end it is up to the viewer to decide their overall opinion on the use of emojis. 

    The first emoticons date all the way back to April of 1857. At this time, the National Telegraphic Review and Operators Guide had stated that number 73 in the Morse Alphabet would be expressed as “love and kisses”. We then see in 1881, in the US Satirical Magazine, Puck, that Typographic emoticons were published. In the article they expressed that emoticons were a new way of using punctuation in sentences and consider it a “Period that Chuckles”. The next really big time we see emoticons published in the paper is in 1969 in the New York times after discovering the famous “smiley face” that Harvey Ball had created in 1963. Ball was told to raise the spirits of employees in an insurance company and do so through the creation of the smiley face. 

 

    Now that emojis are a lot more relevant and popular, we are beginning to see the impacts that they cause. On the negative side, with an increase of emoji usage, there is a decreased concern for grammar, spelling, and even sentence structure. People, more particularly traditionalists, have said that language is now becoming shortened, more abrupt, and there is a loss of communication cues. Emoji’s have created this concept of getting to the point, meaning people aren’t focusing on the grammar or spelling of their text message or tweet but rather getting their overall point across to their audience. Although there are negatives to the use of emojis, there are a good number of positives. Emoji’s follow one major grammar rule, which is acting as a punctuation mark and coming after a complete though has occurred. Emoji’s also help to avoid confusion when communicating over the phone. Sometimes things like sarcasm are hard to infer from a text message, and with the use of emoji’s we avoid the confusion. Lastly, and most common, emoji’s are one of the best ways to express emotions when not being able to communicate in person. Sometimes it can be difficult for people to express their emotions through words and with emojis people are able to send an icon that shows facial expressions of exactly how they are feeling. 

 

    Emoji’s are not a new concept to us but rather a newly popular thing that most of us use daily. As humans continue to reach for the perfect way of communication, emojis are just one step closer on finding it. With every invention there are positives and negatives, and based on the viewers opinion, it will show how they ultimately choose to look at emojis. Despite opinions on emojis though, we will continue to be given more advanced emojis as technology continues to adapt and improve with society.