Nowhere is the complex range of human feeling more evident than on a mobile phone keypad, with emojis. Started as fun pictures to be used as an aid to expression, emojis have become a language in their own right. This month, Apple announced that it wants more ethnic diversity in the app, which at the moment only has white people, with one Sikh man in a turban.
While Apple is addressing how technology can be improved, it’s impossible to ignore the way that Londoners are getting emoji-nal — using them for sexting. Why bother thinking of a way to phrase a potentially embarrassing message or dreaming up an original joke when you can just send a picture of a glass of wine, an aubergine and some confetti? Emoji porn is the 21st-century equivalent of writing 55378008 on your calculator and turning it upside down to read “boobless”.
If you still think sending a picture of a peach and a slithery snake is an innocent message about food shopping and a trip to the zoo, you’d better wise up. To those in the know it is suggesting all manner of bedroom shenanigans.
Admittedly, at the moment the lexicon is somewhat lacking. There’s not even a spoon picture.
So if you are using it to woo, do be cautious. Don’t just send a picture of a screw followed by a cigarette. Start gently, setting the mood with a saxophone and a heart, then build to the rocket and tunnel of love, following up with a cup of tea, or even a diamond ring. Then, if you’re lucky, you might just get a thumbs-up. How romantic.
