Sad. Angry. Wow. Haha. Love!
Meet your emotional reactions. There's only five of them. Well, according to Facebook, that is.
Last week the social networking site released a new feature that allows users to respond to posts with emojis. So now we can express more than just how much we "like" something. We can show all of our friends how much we love, haha, wow, sad, or angry something.
We've been begging Mark Zuckerberg for power beyond the Like since the button's introduction in 2009. But instead of the long-demanded Dislike button, we got these little faces.
Why? Zuckerberg never planned on adding a Dislike button. He felt that would bring too much negativity to the site and open more doors to cyber-bullying. And it would have only added one other option to the table. So Facebook researchers had to find another way expand its expressive possibilities.
Though advertised as a means to maximize the user's power, the sole purpose of these new reactions is for Facebook to better track user behavior and market content. It is yet another way to monitor our every thought and action by creating a structured set of data to gather intel on all of our emotions.
Sure, it's nice to have more than just the two options of Like and Dislike, because as humans we do not react in such a binary form. And some things definitely deserve more than just a Like.
Also, it's true that empathy cannot be fully conveyed with a simple "like." (It's uncomfortable pressing the Like button on a friend's picture of their totaled car after an accident. That's not something to Like.) With other options such as Wow and Sad, it's now possible to show people that you acknowledge them and that you feel for them and feel with them.
But it's still limiting our options. There is no room for any other reactions. Disgust? Embarrassment? Multiple emotions at once? I guess you'll have to resort to commenting... But come on, no one wants to comment "This frustrates me." And how much longer will we even continue to use the comment feature as more and more of our technology is revolving around emojis?
Last year's word of the year was not even a word. It was the "face with tears of joy emoji." Any millennial would tell you: Our culture is becoming completely emoji-centered.
So there you have it. Five emotional reactions on Facebook. Now you don't even have to take the time to write words out.
I can see it in just my own lifetime. Gradually, our language is shrinking down to the minimal amount. As our technology advances, our word count dwindles. And I can't help but wonder: Are we losing meaning through the digitization of our world?
