Our generation has of course been defined by a lot of changes. The world has gone online, computers have become the size of our palms, social media has basically taken over, and everything really is at our fingertips.
Old things are out, and new things are in. That old colon-parentheses -- :) -- smiley face has become unfortunately outdated as we now have an entire keyboard of amazing tiny pictures constantly at our smart-phone leisure to use in addition to regular old letters to express ourselves.
I'm talking about emojis -- basically the best invention since the iPhone itself. With the click of a button we can now choose from dozens of little faces with any expression possible, animals, plants, food, activities, professions, flags, technology and even things that we still can't quite figure out what they are. Anything we need to say can be said with emojis, and this just creates one little problem -- we have come to love them so much we kinda forgot how to live without them. Here are ten signs that you have become hopelessly addicted to emojis:
Yes I did make that and yes it did take me over an hour, and yes, it was worth it.
1. You no longer feel like you can adequately express yourself without emojis.
Ew, what are those? Plain words? No, this does not get my point across at all. A winky tongue face would spice this message right up.
Honestly though, it's sometimes hard for us to put into words what we want to say without the assistance of emojis. People will think we're too serious if we don't put that dancing lady or sunglasses man emoji, or they won't understand how angry we are unless we put the devil horns face. The poop pile emoji speaks volumes for pretty much anything, and we love the beer-clinking emoji when were going out. Emojis just make sense... of all our emotions. We kinda don't remember how to say things with words. Why should we though, when we can choose the exact little symbol that says what we need to say perfectly without us having to say a thing?
2. You sometimes opt to respond to things on your phone rather than your computer because you know you can use emojis to help get your point across.
Us emoji addicts will sometimes go to respond to a Facebook message on our computer... but then realize that our response needs emoji-assistance. If it's about food, we need to send a few of the lip-licking emoji, scattered with food and knife & fork emojis so the recipient knows we mean business. If its funny, 32 of the crying-laughing eyes emoji comin' at ya. We need a dolphin emoji if we're going swimming, and the rain emoji if it's raining, naturally. We comprise our insta captions entirely of emojis on a regular basis, because we can't think of anything better anymore. If its something we like, we completely overuse the heart-eyes emoji... and we're okay with it.
My reaction to anything remotely funny. This has now fully overtaken the 'hahahahaha.'
3. Regular punctuation just plain confuses you now.
"How do I make myself sound excited, yet also serious, with only exclamation points and periods?!"
Exclamation points, periods, question marks, and semicolons can only do so much to explain our real feelings these days. And they do not do enough. We sometimes find ourselves overusing exclamation points, worrying if we sound too excited, overanalyzing our messages, and confusing ourselves. And when we change some of them to periods we worry if we sound way too serious. This is a recurring issue that can only be solved by... you guessed it... emojis. Where there are five different types of smiley faces alone to help us express ourselves, not to mention all the animals, scenes, instruments, and forms of transportation in the world.
4. You can respond to most all things with any combination of emojis, which almost certainly expresses what you are trying to say, perfectly.
We're so addicted to emojis that we hardly even need words anymore at all, especially with our best friends. We can expertly craft a response to anything comprised solely of emojis, which makes perfect sense. And this is a talent (yes, talent) that we are very proud of.
5. It's often difficult for you to limit your text to only one emoji.
Sometimes, we finish a text and look back to see three or more emojis throughout our text. This is yet another sign of emoji addiction. When we look back, we sometimes take a few emojis out to seem less crazy and emoji-obsessed... and sometimes we just let it happen 😛
6. You have to be conscious about your emoji use when talking to someone who doesn't use them.
You become especially conscious of your emoji addiction when texting someone who does not use emojis (the rare ones who exist in this day and age). When you realize this, you often need to go back and re-edit your texts to make sure that you only have one emoji per text, or maybe every other text, again so you don't seem too obsessed!
7. You have experimented creating little scenes and shapes over text with emojis. We call it emoji art.
Admit it, you have sat on your phone for way too long at times trying to create a little text-picture to send your friends. Maybe the classic whale under the sea, the flying pig, a man chasing a balloon, some inappropriate ones I will not mention... or an original creation by you yourself!
8. Each of your friends have a specific emoji next to their contact name in your phone.
Your friends all have an emoji somewhere in their contact name, if not being a contact comprised of emojis alone. These aren't just random emojis either, they are expertly matched to each of your friends for a specific reason.
9. You have a few favorite emojis that you completely overuse.
Everyone has that one emoji that just gets them. It can be an emoji that describes your mood, your hobbies, your country, your favorite food... anything. You use your favorite emoji way too much, and all your friends know to expect it from you all too often.
10. You get a little too excited over emoji updates.
You, emoji addicts, were probably amongst those who were freaking out about the new taco and burrito emojis, sending all the new ones in mass proportions to all your loved ones, and scattering all your social media posts with the good news. Because honestly, what could be more exciting than a taco emoji?! Avocado... you're next.
This was originally posted on adventuresnsunsets.com! Check out more of my posts and photography here!