Think again before sending that emoji – it may not mean what you think it does

Language is a moveable feast – it will always change over time (even if you believe it isn’t always progress) and apparently we can say the same for the emoji.

The Unicode Consortium, a not-for-profit that oversees emoji standards and is responsible for new releases, is expected to decide on the new entries to the emoji catalogue next month, so I found a piece in the Wall Street Journal discussing the generational divide over their use interesting.

The main crux was that even something as simple as the smiley face emoji could be interpreted a number of different ways – while many of those in their 30s and above would see it as meaning “happy” or “good work”, those in their teens and 20s would see it as being sarcastic or would use it ironically – and therefore can see it as passive-aggressive.

The piece goes on to detail the “confused interactions” that can follow, with parents having to ask their children what emojis mean, or co-workers trying to make sure they are being understood correctly. “There’s nothing that makes you feel older than googling what an emoji means,” one 31-year-old said.

Whichever side of the age divide you are on, once you have decided what an emoji means to you it is likely going to be difficult to discern that it could mean the opposite to someone else unless you are told. As a millennial and growing up as the internet was becoming ubiquitous, I have to remember that members of Generation Z are true “digital natives” and they are at home in a swiftly changing technological landscape, which takes a little more work than it used to for me to understand!

Emojis will never replace the complexity of language, but that doesn’t preclude them from being ascribed with any number of meanings for different situations. A misplaced emoji can certainly have the same impact as a misplaced word.

Last year, there was a “debate” on Twitter (where else?) about the suggestion that young people could feel “intimidated” by the use of full stops in texts and other messages – again seeing them as a sign of negative emotion. Whether that is the case or not – and I feel that it is too easy to be exasperated by that notion, which may have played into it becoming a subject for attention anyway – new meanings or forms of communication will always crop up.

I expect that anyone reading this will have quickly come down on one side or the other on what the smiley face emoji means (with some enlightened souls using it for both meanings depending on the situation). Generational divides over communication are as old as the hills – and this certainly won’t be the last.