By Frank Yin
According to BBC News, there are over 3000 emojis on our phones. There are many people that want to add more emojis, but their ideas are being rejected. So why are these ideas being rejected?
An issue that may occur is overloaded keyboard space. Once an emoji is accepted, it will not be removed. For the Emoji Subcommittee, a group that accepts emoji ideas, less significant emojis will create a hassle. For example, DroneUp, a drone service company, wanted to add a drone emoji. The Emoji Subcommittee declined their proposal. Because drones were too new and the subcommittee was unsure if drone emojis would be relevant years later. In addition to the drone emoji’s problems, it could also provoke others to propose their own minor emojis.
Emojis are essential to our digital communication. People use emojis because they express our body language. 70% of our interactions are body language. The convenience of selecting emojis is vital. If the keyboard space is too full and there are many minor emojis, it can be very hard to find the desired emoji.
Some people feel that the emoji acceptance system is unfair. They state that some emojis such as the floppy disks are a waste of space, and that their emojis are more important. The emoji subcommittee is mainly made up of older white males which are technical experts. People such as Keith Winston, a professor of Stanford university, say that the committee is not fit to decide which emojis should be on smartphones. They believe that the decision should be left to the public and app developers.
People that are unable to get their emojis accepted can make their own online. Since there are a variety of cultures, the ability to create your own emojis is great. However, some want their emojis on the world stage, so everyone can use it.