BY KAMAAL MCINTYRE
I remember when I first got my iPhone 4. Just like anyone who gets a new phone, I randomly started scrolling and looking at the phone's features.
Eventually, I came across the emojis. I'm sure you've all heard of emoticons, or "emoji," small digital images accessible through virtual keyboards, used to express emotions in texts and emails.
As I was scrolling through them, I noticed they weren't any diverse ones. They were just all one color -- white. To be honest, I wasn't really surprised by that. I guess I'm used to it by now, that white is the "standard" for everything.
But you may be thinking or wondering to yourself, why aren't there any black, Hispanic, or Asian emoji? Just to argue the point, here are some of the different emoji that there ARE available:
With all of these, you have to wonder how it's taken Apple this long to decide to include emoji with the skin colors represented by two-thirds of the Earth.
Well, good news: Apple's new update Apple IOS 9 will have 300 new emoji, including new racially diverse ones. I'm sure you're curious about why Apple miraculously decided to make more diverse emoji. Well, Apple recently received word from many people in a recent rant and complaint. Basically, people all over the world want to have emoji that reflect more human diversity, especially for skin tone. Apple agreed to the emoji and recently released a reply to the public that states: "These sets may change before this document is final, the feature will be in the next periodic upgrade for both systems, meaning it could debut in a matter of weeks, months or maybe even in a matter of years."
I guess we've waited this long...
I remember when I first got my iPhone 4. Just like anyone who gets a new phone, I randomly started scrolling and looking at the phone's features.
Eventually, I came across the emojis. I'm sure you've all heard of emoticons, or "emoji," small digital images accessible through virtual keyboards, used to express emotions in texts and emails.
As I was scrolling through them, I noticed they weren't any diverse ones. They were just all one color -- white. To be honest, I wasn't really surprised by that. I guess I'm used to it by now, that white is the "standard" for everything.
But you may be thinking or wondering to yourself, why aren't there any black, Hispanic, or Asian emoji? Just to argue the point, here are some of the different emoji that there ARE available:
- Seven different colors of notebooks
- Space Invaders
- 17 different pieces of fruit
- 25 different transportation emoji, including 5 different types of buses, 2 trucks, a tractor, and a subway train
- 13 emoji for weather
- 62 different animals, including 2 dragons and a puffer fish
- 41 different emoji for food
- 21 different manual clock-face emoji, all set at different times. For, you know, those times when your digital clock on your phone is just too easy.
With all of these, you have to wonder how it's taken Apple this long to decide to include emoji with the skin colors represented by two-thirds of the Earth.
Well, good news: Apple's new update Apple IOS 9 will have 300 new emoji, including new racially diverse ones. I'm sure you're curious about why Apple miraculously decided to make more diverse emoji. Well, Apple recently received word from many people in a recent rant and complaint. Basically, people all over the world want to have emoji that reflect more human diversity, especially for skin tone. Apple agreed to the emoji and recently released a reply to the public that states: "These sets may change before this document is final, the feature will be in the next periodic upgrade for both systems, meaning it could debut in a matter of weeks, months or maybe even in a matter of years."
I guess we've waited this long...