I’m sufficiently old and grumpy to have resisted the use of emoji for a long time, wondering what was wrong with, you know, words – but I did find myself assimilated in the end.
The tiny colorful substitutes for vocabulary now make up a growing percentage of our communication, especially since Apple allowed any emoji to be used for tapback reactions ..
In fact, we apparently send five billion of the little critters every day.
World Emoji Day is a tongue-in-cheek reference to the fact that July 17 is the date shown in the Calendar emoji: 📅
According to Emojipedia, the two most popular emoji last year were the head-shake and head-nod emoji, which I find surprising. That was based on usage data, while a popular vote declared the melting face emoji the “most 2024.”
The internet was apparently not looking forward to this year, as the most anticipated emoji was … bags under the face:
As the awards got progressively sillier, the lifetime achievement award was granted to Sparkles.
Which are your most-used emoji? I think mine are the rather mundane like, love, and thanks. And which one does the most heavy lifting when it comes to fitting a great deal of meaning into a tiny block of pixels? For me, that would be the care one.
How about you? Please let us know in the comments.
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Photo: 9to5Mac photo of Emojitracker