World Emoji Day 2021: How aubergines and crying faces connected us all online

Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. “So this trope that emojis are the equivalent of an adolescent grunt – it’s a misnomer and misunderstands communication.” Philip Seargeant, a senior lecturer of applied linguistics at The Open University agrees. Seargeant says: “I think the media perception of emoji is still as quite frivolous, where in actual fact they’re increasingly being used in serious contexts. “An example of identity markers was when Lady Hale wore a spider broach when ruling on the government’s proroguing of parliament, and lots of people sympathetic to the ruling began using a spider emoji in their Twitter handles,” says Seargeant. Seargeant says that emoji are part of a general trend towards more visual communication, created by social media and the internet: “These changes include an upsurge in the use of visual communication online ; and a trend for informal, and often fragmented, conversation.” Despite many still seeing emoji as a youthful pursuit, experts believe they are here to stay.