Shrug

We used to have a cat named Emoji. For years, she would leave to spend the day at our next-door neighbor’s very modern style house. After we moved to a different town, Emoji started spending the day at a house much farther away. When I went to pick her up there, I glanced in the doorway. Again, it was a modern style house. Eventually, we just agreed to give Emoji to that neighbor so she could live in the style of home, and more importantly, with the people she preferred. 😹 Looking back, I realize Emoji had the perfect name, and not just because of her association with minimalism. Emojis come into our lives, then they come and go, and eventually, some of them disappear. While our cat’s comings and goings were probably driven by the introduction of beagles into our household, emoji use is largely driven by teenage girls. These days, the most popular emoji is “deployed when something is so funny, emotional or embarrassing you could cry. 😭 reached the top by leapfrogging 🤣 and 😂 on the leaderboard. A big reason: Young people decided the other emojis were overused.” The fastest growing emoji is 🥀, which has taken over for 💔, and is pure 🔥. NYT UpShot (Gift Article): Do Your Emojis Make You Look Old? I really don’t use emojis. I like to think that’s because of my wordsmithing capabilities. (As Steve Martin explained, “Some people have a way with words, other people, oh, not have way I guess.”) Maybe I should incorporate more emojis so my teenage daughter will want to text with me more often. In the meantime, I’m just hoping she doesn’t develop a sudden fascination for modern style homes. 🤷

+ Scheduling Note: NextDraft will be off tomorrow. Have a good weekend.