When you look over your shoulder and see your roommate sending more emojis than words to the boy she’s interested in, you have to ask yourself, “What has the world come to?”
I swear, we’ve regressed our communication skills all the way back to the Stone Age when they used cave drawings to express ?emotions.
The contacts that line our phones are full of emojis, indicating the relationship we have with said person.
For example, Katie (diamond)(salsa girl) translates to Katie, my friend in my sorority who has some sweet dance moves. Boyfriends may have up to five kissy faces next to their name on your phone as a way to claim them as ?yours.
I find this totally and ?completely moronic.
The only person who’s going to see a text message pop up on your phone is you or the stranger sitting next to you on the bus.
What do strangers care about your illustrative “claim” on a person they don’t even know?
I’ve found that guys pick up their emoji game once they realize a girl they are interested in uses emojis in their texts. I guess it’s some form of idiotic imitation or a way to say the feelings boys don’t have the ability to articulate.
Last night I was watching the Bachelor (I know, laugh at me all you want) and this girl professed her “love” (whatever that means) on a billboard that said “Kaitlyn <3’s Chris.”
It’s embarrassing that full-grown adults can’t even say how they actually feel.
Yes, I do enjoy the salsa girl every now and then when Victor Cruz scores a ?touchdown.
But besides that, I prefer to use the English language.
It’s so much simpler.
There’s a code that exists when people send emojis — it’s not a simple yes or no text, it’s an “okay” symbol that could mean the person really isn’t okay with the ?situation. That being said, I feel like we all run into this problem when our generation texts each other anyway.
A few weeks ago I ran into this very issue.
My roommate (the aforementioned one) went on a blind date with a guy; let’s call him Jose.
She texted me, “I’m feeling Jose,” following with “(okay hand sign)(number one finger)(okay hand sign)(okay hand sign).”
My response: “What does feeling entail?”
I couldn’t even ask about the emojis, because you can’t put them into words.
As you can tell, writing this column without the actual emojis themselves is a struggle.
Feeling is such a vague word to describe one’s ?feelings. Our slang language today is so complex that I’m usually at a loss at what people are talking about.
I can’t tell if “coke” is pop or a hard drug.
Today, the use of colloquial terms or emojis is ?extremely ambiguous. Millennials are arguably the most visual ?generation yet.
Next thing we know, all of our texting is going to be ?in gifs.
We love pictures — Snapchat and Instagram have replaced the simple phone call that asked, “How are you ?doing?”
Maybe it’s time that we take a step back.
Instead of sending an “I <3 you” text, you should try and say it in person.
jlkarl@umail.iu.edu
