Digital Discourse Database

Number of Posts: 25
Posts 21 - 25

Adults who use emoji should grow up

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Newspaper | The Guardian
Date | 18.6.2014
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | emojis, youth
Summary | Emojis are not the most interesting Internet invention, according to the author. Next to memes for examples, they are quite unimaginative. Also, the use of emojis by adults seems to mirror their refusal to grow up. They have important decisions to make in order to shape a bright future for the next generations.
Image Description | Image of a winking face emoji.
Image Tags | emojis

Emoji: the first truly global language?

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Newspaper | The Guardian
Date | 31.8.2014
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | diversity, emojis, word/writing
Summary | The author of the article explains how sometimes sending an emoji can convey more than words, in just one click. Emojis have come a long way since their origin, and today one of the major concerns about emojis is diversity. The authors claims that if we're building a new language, we want to include everyone and everything. Emojis are also being used in other contexts (e.g. video clip, book). Words can express a lot but they can also create misunderstandings; emojis can thus be a way of freeing oneself from the limitations of language.
Image Description | Digital image representing different emojis.
Image Tags | emojis

Emoji is dragging us back to the dark ages – and all we can do is smile

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Newspaper | The Guardian
Date | 27.5.2015
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | emojis, language threat
Summary | The fact that the new "emoji language" is expanding fast is viewed as a return to the dark ages. According to the author of the article, humanity is going downhill with this new visual language. Young people seem to prefer using emojis rather than words to express themselves (according to a survey). The author claims that images limit people's expression compared to words which are more adaptable. He also compares emojis with hieroglyphics and the Egyptian civilization.
Image Description | Two digital images representing different sets of emojis, and photograph of Egyptian hieroglyphics.
Image Tags | emojis, hieroglyphics

What happens when your mother discovers emojis?

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Newspaper | The Guardian
Date | 28.5.2016
Language | English
Country | UK
Summary | The author of the article talks about her 70-year-old mother's use of emojis. Since she's had an iPhone, her mother has been using emojis a lot. Some news media have been covering the emoji phenomenon for a while now; they claim that emojis are like hieroglyphics, and that digital natives communicate using a special code, unfamiliar to adults. The author claims that we still use and need words, but emojis add more nuance and are straighforward.
Image Description | Photograph of a woman in a room full of emojis; she has a big 'smiling face with sunglasses emoji' on her head.
Image Tags | emojis, female(s)

:) them or :( them, emojis make our messages feel more like us

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Newspaper | The Guardian
Date | 14.6.2016
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | emojis, language threat
Summary | Some people are happy about the new 'emojify' feature that Apple offers, and some people don't like it and think that future generations won't be able to understand the English language. Famous cognitivist Stephen Pinker argues in favor of such communicative features; people adapt their language to the medium they use. If people text or tweet, it doesn't mean they won't be able to communicate in other ways; the same holds true for emojis. Emojis are useful to convey information that is hard to transmit via text (e.g. tone of voice, facial expressions). Having representative emojis (e.g. different skin colors) is also important since they help construct users' identity. Some people are not totally happy with the set of emojis offered now; they still convey certain ideologies and norms (e.g. about gender).
Image Description | Photograph of a woman in a room full of emojis; she has a big 'smiling face with sunglasses emoji' on her head.
Image Tags | emojis, female(s)

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