Emojis For Everyone

Apple recently released changes to its emojis, and while they may seem small to some, they are life changing for others.

Emojis now represent everyone, meaning there are different races and types of families available. Holding down on select emojis will reveal six different skin tones, letting the user choose which one they’d like to use.

Releasing these new emojis is great, because it is something our generation uses everyday to communicate. While older generations may not understand their meaning, emojis are a way we express our emotions via text messages or to our followers on social media.

Since Apple is such a huge company, this change has reached many people. They have reminded us to take a step back and look at each situation from another person’s perspective.

I know that looking at the new emojis, I saw you could change Santa’s skin tone. It never crossed my mind that people of another race may picture Santa differently than I do. I think that’s amazing.

Expanding the family emojis is also a great change. Obviously, same-sex marriage is controversial in our nation. Again, with the arrival of new kinds of emoji families, we are reminded that our view of the world may be different than others. Portraying the different family types, whether it is a traditional family or not, reminds others that the world is full of different individuals.

In a way, these emojis remind people that diversity is a great thing. Being able to portray your friends or family accurately as an emoji is one small change toward acceptance for all. Kids growing up with friends of different races or with parents of the same sex will feel they are accepted by society this way.

The one emoji we wanted that wasn’t in the update that most people are anxiously awaiting the arrival of: the middle finger (maybe in the next update).