Emojis have a huge impact on our everyday lives. You can rarely have a text conversation without using some kind of emojis. It helps you convey your emotions and the point you are trying to get across to the person you are having a conversation with. I was once showing a message to my friend that I had sent someone else and she asked why I had only sent the emoji with the small smile. I thought that was a weird question because I thought it was cute, but to her that could me that I wasn't really happy. When she texts with her boyfriend, if they don't send the emoji that is smiling really big, they think the other is upset for some reason.
I think overall, emoji's have come a long way. There used to be just a small set of standard emojis that you could use. I see it as growing with our generations. The first set of emojis was very original and standard. It featured heterosexual couples and families, single people and a small (compared to now) variety of foods, plants, symbols, and other miscellaneous things.
NBC News stated in an article, that "while Emoji 12.0 comes with some fairly trivial newbies (a melting ice cube and a yo-yo, for instance), it also offers users an array of other options we haven’t seen before, such as a prosthetic arm and leg, a person in a wheelchair (both manual and automatic), a person with a probing cane, a deaf person, an ear with a hearing aid, a service dog, interracial couples and gender-neutral couples."
Our generation is becoming one of the most diverse, open, honest, and inclusive generations of all time. This is where rhetoric comes into play. People see the small ways that everyone is being included and can be impacted and influenced. We are fighting for equal rights with gender equality, gender neutral restrooms and public areas, gay marriage, strict gun laws, awareness of disabilities and diseases, and so much more. We have a goal of everyone becoming equal in our society and not having an invisible social hierarchy. We ignore people based on biases that were imposed upon us when we were young. We were influenced by a generation that grew up without the drive we have to create a society where everyone is equal and has the same opportunities as everyone else.
Emojis may only play a small part in the fight for equality, but the little things count too. People want to feel like they are represented in all forms and levels. One of the smallest ways they can be represented is with emojis. These people who have hearing aids, prosthetic limbs, partners or children of different races, and other disabilities just want to be recognized and shown that they are an important part of society. By putting these different groups of people into the new round of emojis coming out, we are taking steps towards these people feeling like they are represented.
The world is a different place in today's society. We rely on technology for everything. It's how we communicate, take classes, listen to music, play games, check out bank account, take pictures, watch movies, get news, and so many other everyday things. We are surrounded by technology and it has a much greater influence on us than most people may realize. By adding these small emojis and including these people that would otherwise not have any representation, we are showing society that they matter and that they should have a voice. Were giving them a voice and a small way to represent themselves.
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