“Where is the avocado emoji?”
“I’ll just use the maple leaf because there’s no marijuana leaf.”
“Why is this even an emoji?”
This is a Public Service Announcement: Please stop and think the next time you demand more emojis.
I understood the first couple of updates. Same sex couples were added. Then, more countries’ flags. Then, new races and genders, along with a host of other random new symbols to complement or replace words in text messages. I appreciate the push for equality in representation. I too gleefully sent middle fingers and unicorns to my friends. But this has to stop.
Please think before you demand new emojis. Why must you punctuate your texts with tiny symbols of words you’ve already expressed? Why must you replaced written language with computer-generated images?
Are you nostalgic for the age of picture books? Do you wish to return to a hieroglyphic writing system? Are you choosing emojis with the same reverence that a caveman immortalized the image of his hunt on the wall of a cave? Are your fingers too tired to type out the five-letter P-I-Z-Z-A, but can manage to find the single slice emoji?
Please also think about why we need each particular emoji you request. Will it benefit a large group of people? Will it effect some social change?
Please, think before you demand a new emoji update, if for no other reason than that I’m so tired of scrolling through all of these new ones to find the one I want.