This morning, I had the pleasure of joining Mike Collins on Charlotte Talks to discuss the rise of emoji as a form of communication. Here’s what WFAE had to say about the conversation:

Digital technologies are changing the way we communicate as well as the way we write and spell.  And with emojis we don’t have to do either.  You can say things using pictures like our caveman ancestors.  The use of emojis crosses generations.  Are we dumbing down society or creating a new, creative visual language?  Three language experts share their thoughts in an emoji free conversation on the topic.

Guests
Josephine Koster, Professor of English and Director of English Graduate Studies at Winthrop University
Tyler Schnoebelen, founder and chief analyst at Idibon, a natural language processing firm
Dr. John McArthur, Associate Professor of Communication, and Director, Undergraduate Programs in the Knight School of Communication at Queens University of Charlotte

To hear the broadcast in its entirety, listen here: http://wfae.org/post/emojis-and-future-language

And, in the spirit of emoji, here are my experiences on the show documented in photos:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BF1RNMgAvzu/?taken-by=jamcarthur&hl=en