The True Meaning of Emojis?

Emojis have become a new hit way to further communicate. They can indicate someone's tone or emphasize what your saying. Sometimes people convey a whole messages only using emojis. It's something that seems so harmless, but recently, that has not been the case. For a 12 year old girl, her message of some words and emojis got her arrested. The message consisted of this.

"Killing 🔫

meet me in the library Tuesday

🔫 🔪 💣"

To me, I see this as a harmless joke between friends, but I can also see how it can be interpreted as a threat. The fact of the word "Killing" followed by guns, a knife, and a bomb, someone might this this is a threat. There is little evidence that could be used in court that could say that this was a joke. All someone who would glance at this without context would think this was a serious threat. This is a big problem emerging with technology. Is a text, tweet, or post that contains a potential threatening message a true threat, or simply a sarcastic remark? With text on a screen, we don't always get an accurate tone of the writer. Emojis are in the same boat in this case.

Interpretation is the whole problem with emojis. What do Emojis mean? There is not really a set definition for each Emoji, and someone could interpret the emoji differently depending on the context. One could see a ":P" as a playful tease, or as a hurtful jest depending on the context of it. The way the receiver of the emoji interpretes it may or may not be the way the author intended it to be.

For me in the 12 year old girl's shoes, I would of simply not posted that message. It's something that seems so simple, but it is a problem that plagues many. The fact that they post a message without thinking how this could impact someone, or how it could be interprate differently. We don't really know the full context of this girl's situation. She claims this was a response to bullying. If that is true or not, it's just simply not acceptable. 

Social media isn't bad, it's just not often used in a successful manner. It's a powerful tool that can have a positive impact. But it is a two edged sword that can also be used to harm others.

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