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Like side parts, skinny jeans, and girlbossing, emoji can be categorized as dated internet ephemera. These days, certain symbols, like 😂, are seen as especially cringe and — even worse — Millennial. However, some of the more recent additions to the emoji arsenal (looking at you fondly, 🥺) have gained popularity among digital natives, and in turn, made emoji use more nuanced. 

Like my Gen Z peers, I never used emoji as reactions or to punctuate my texts. They were there for Instagram captionsand nothing more.

An emoji is a visual character that represents an emotion or an action. But before there were emoji, there were text emoticons, which were faces created out of punctuation marks. Emoticons were first published in print in an 1881 copy of Puck, an American humor magazine. A little over 100 years later, emoticons were everywhere. During the boom of the internet, emoticons were symbolic of the AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) culture of the '90s. Then the emoji entered the chat.  The first set of emoji was released in 1997 by Japanese phone carrier SoftBank. In fact, the word "emoji" is Japanese in origin, the combination of the words "picture" and "letter," meaning "pictograph."

In 2008, Apple utilized SoftBanks' tech to create its first emoji set for iPhones in Japan, and in 2011, Apple emoji went mainstream when the tech company added the emoji keyboard to all iPhone models. I got my first iPhone in 2014, and I remember assigning all my friends emoji in my contacts, but I rarely used them when texting.

Emoji found their way into my life in messages from my mom and in birthday texts from friends and family, but this year everything changed: I began using emoji, ironically. I discovered the simple pleasure of a well-placed, tongue-in-cheek emoji.Now, I use one in nearly every text, Slack message, tweet, and Instagram story I post.

I am not the only Gen Zer who has changed the way I use these small digital icons. My peers have pioneered a new kind of emoji speak, reclaiming symbols like 😭 and 💀 to mean "laughing," rather than the overused 😂 . Otherwise known as the "face with tears of joy," 😂 dates back to the first emoji set on iPhones from 2011 and was the most-used emoji in 2019 and 2021, according to data from Unicode Consortium, the organization that standardizes digital characters. Due to its long reign and popularity among Millennials, it makes sense that Gen Z has instead opted to carve out their own online identity through visuals that don't quite fit the usual mold. If you want to laugh in 2021, you do so ironically. Because what is there to laugh about, really? 

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Ultimately, there are four emoji that revolutionized my relationship to emoji: 😌, ❤️, 🙄, and ✋. 

The "relieved face" appears to be smiling down in a state of contentment. It's a peaceful and pleased expression which makes it perfect to punctuate unfortunate or less than ideal situations. For example, on November 26, 2021, I texted my friend, "I have no clean clothes 😌." 

The "red heart," "face with rolling eyes," and "raised hand" were all introduced to me on Twitter. The trend "no ❤️" brought the red heart into my digital repertoire of everyday emoji. According to my text history, I first used it on Dec. 22, 2020. Canonically, the red heart is the most sincere of the heart emoji. In high school, my friend and I categorized the meaning of every single heart emoji and agreed that the red heart was the sincerest expression of love. However, when the red heart is used in this context, attached to the word "no," it’s sarcastic. 

The "face with rolling eyes" and "raised hand" are used together to express exasperation. It can be used in place of "c’mon" or "oh my god." The "raised hand" can be paired with other face emoji for further emphasis. Last year, I didn’t even know ✋ existed, and now it is a staple. When using it outside of its pairing with a face emoji I might use it to imply "STOPPPP."

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Before I found these four emoji — my holy grail — I didn’t even know you could use emoji outside of their intended meanings. They opened my eyes to a world of emoji-bility. It started me on my quest to include the perfect emoji in every text. 

Since becoming an emoji user I have come to find that there are three various categories of emoji I use: Millennial or fuckboy emoji that I send ironically (like 🙏 and 🙌); sincere emoji that I use sarcastically (🤗); and a handful of newer emoji that are actually cool and I type as intended ( hello, 🤪 and 🤌). 

Some examples of the Millennial emoji are 😂, 😎, 😃, and 😍.

The emoji I send ironically fall into two groups: Millennial and fuckboy. Some examples of the Millennial emoji are 😂, 😎, 😃, and 😍. They date back to the original pack of emoji released in 2011 on iPhone, and they've since suffered from overexposure. They don't have the novelty and charm of the newer emoji and are instead reminders of an older texting experience when your emoji self-expression was limited. 

While these emoji are dated, they're still being used by young people because if there is one thing Gen Z loves it's doing something ironically until they’re doing it sincerely.Both Lucia Leporte, a 19-year-old UCSB student, and Sarah, a 24-year-old writer, started using 😂 as a joke only to end up using it all the time in text conversation. 

Every time one of my friends uses a Millennial emoji I can't help but laugh. It shouldn’t be thatfunny, but it is. 

Fuckboy emoji are probably the most cringe emoji of all. Those include the 😫, 💯, 👀, 🔥, 😳, and 💦. These are the emoji that might be included in a horny text, and they have a similar vibe to "hahaha and then what" or "noooo don’t cry you’re so sexy ahaha." Like Millennial emoji, these emoji are fun to use and exciting to see out of their typical context. 

The "relieved face" falls into my second category of emoji: sincere emoji I use sarcastically. Other emoji that fall into that category are 😋, 🤗, 😇, 😘, and my personal favorite, 😐. Obviously, I can use these emoji earnestly, like I might send a friend 🥰 when I’m filled with fondness for them, but for the most part, I'm tacking 🥰 at the end of messages where I am being a little catty or not filled with any love for the situation at hand. It's like putting a period at the end of a text. The implication is there.

The final category is newer emoji that don't have the complicated context of Millennial and fuckboy emoji, but also don’t read as completely sincere either. Some examples include 🤠, 🥸, and 😵‍💫. These emoji are still finding their footing in the language of the internet, which makes them somewhat edgy and even subversive. They don't have established meanings, and therefore these emoji really depend on the context they’re used in. In other words, these are all good and fun emoji. They are chaotic neutral. 

In 2021, I escaped the idea that emoji are cringe.

Take, for example, 🥺, which falls into this category. According to Unicode, from 2019 to 2021, it went from the 94th most-popular emoji to the 14th most-popular, and you can tell that its influence on the internet has skyrocketed. You can't scroll through Twitter without seeing one, and it’s even my eleventh most-used emoji currently. 🥺.

In 2021, I escaped the idea that emoji are cringe. Or maybe I just embraced the cringe of using them.

I am a very expressive person and have quite possibly the worst poker face ever. Before my love affair with emoji, I worried that my humor was getting lost over texts, which became a huge issue for me when everything became remote. My new use of emoji allows my personality to shine in ways that I’m still learning to convey in person. 

Beyond their necessity in a time where we live a lot of our lives online, emoji just make me happy. I enjoy scheming up new ways to use different emoji and watching it catch on within my circle of friends. Lately, I’ve been using 🧘‍♀️ after I say something particularly aggressive or obnoxious, meaning "I’m going to attempt to be chill now." In March, my friends and I went through a 🪄 phase after it came up as the suggested emoji when you type "enchant." And who doesn’t want to be enchanted all the time? 

I know it’s silly, but emoji sparked joy in this rollercoaster of a year. and for that I am so grateful. Now, without further commentary: 💅🙈🏃‍♀️🥳💃🏻🧘‍♀️😐.

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