So what do emojis actually mean?

The infamous crying-laughing emoji. So, what does this actually mean? My best friend is currently rolling around on the ground crying and laughing very loud because my post about puppies not being able to catch dog treats is apparently that funny? Awesome! I wonder where they are at; walking down the aisle at a grocery store? That would certainly be a sight.

How about when we see the little kissy-face emoji? Can I assume that the person actually wants to kiss me? Oh and this is not to mention the included wink and heart! So when I get this emoji from someone, clearly they are in to me! Right? If that is the case, the proper response the majority of times that I see this emoji (a few exceptions) should be that I am sorry, but I just wouldn’t kiss you back.

Winkie face. I've tried implementing the casual wink when I say something sarcastic. Sadly, people just think this is a little creepy. Also, I would like to know if anyone has actually seen somebody wink whilst sticking their tongue out (when I use any of the wink emojis, the wink plus tongue is my go-to). I tried employing this technique once with not as much success as it seems to have on social media.

And... of course I use the smiley with tongue sticking out. This just seems like it would be uncomfortable. Really. Try it right now. Smile and stick your tongue out. I don't want to even venture a guess as to the true intent of this emoji. It really doesn't make much sense at all; not displaying the content satisfaction and happiness that the little face looking up at us from the screen seems to exemplify.

So why is it OK to put these emojis in a text box, but not actually show the emotions? Most likely, the actual intent of the smileys and other emoji expressions is not how I have laid them out to be. People, most likely, are not actually feeling the emotions that the emoji is meant to express.

My theory is that emojis, despite being designed to show actual emotions over text, have actually dulled society's senses to emotion. All of these emojis can be used to show a certain facade that is far from the sender's actual feelings. Very rarely do people actually feel the emotions that are inferred in all of these emojis. Though fun to use, these emojis allow certain people, if they choose, to hide behind their messages and in fact may make it much more difficult for others to tell what he or she is actually feeling. Either this falsity happens, or people use them genuinely, but nobody knows now, so essentially emojis are void, right?

The ending effect on society is that a reader cannot tell whether the writer is being sincere or simply putting on a show. Thus, to get by, people have started taking all of the emotions out of emojis. Society needs to learn how to have one on one conversations before all emotion is sucked out of our souls by these small yellow demons. Until then, keep sending the fancy little figures, but next time you use one, consider what it is actually saying.