Emojis pepper my texts. Whether I’m chatting with a friend, talking to my parents, or communicating with classmates for a group project, I find myself returning to these bite-sized morsels of love, laughter and everything in between — I love how expressive they are, full of so much emotion, how they soften the text message so it feels alive and humanlike and gentle rather than rigid and clinical.

5. 💞

Even just looking at the revolving heart emoji makes me feel warm. The emoji, to me, feels like the fuller, more complete and genuine version of your classic boxy red heart. The little pink ribbons between the larger heart and smaller heart create a feeling of togetherness, as if to say, “We’re here, in this space, together,” or as if to say, “Here’s a little bit of love for you,” without truly saying anything at all other than clicking the little image at the top of your recent emojis bar. I enjoy the blushing fuschia color, how it pops and bursts in contrast to the blue text message box and find myself returning back to this emoji because of how it feels both cute and so expansive, like it can hold so much love.

4. 🥺

During Harker Journalism’s Secret Santa event last year, one of the clues I gave to the person I was gifting to was, “My favorite emoji is the pleading face one.” I knew it would give me away because I used it so often — when I said, “Thank you,” when I said, “Please” or when I was confessing something that felt personal to my friends or family. I love the wide, almost cartoonish eyes, the little raised eyebrows (the embodiment of what I imagine someone’s face looks like when they send a text that says “Awww”), the little wisp of mouth and the way the expression feels so gentle and kind, as if to add parentheses that say, (I mean it, truly), after saying, “Thank you.”

3. 🤪

This emoji feels like the equivalent of putting “hehe” at the end of a text—in other words, it can go anywhere, describe anything, and immediately transform a text message from being uptight and stiff into one that is fun and playful. The tilted face, the asymmetrical eyes and bright pink tongue creates this little swaying, rocking movement that I can’t take my eyes off of. My mom first found this emoji and sent it to me, saying, “Are we working out today 🤪,” and I found it so perfect—it’s easy nonchalance, it’s looseness and dance-like feel. Ever since that moment, I have been drawn to that emoji and have been using it as a go-to (it always sits at the top of my recent bar, so it’s perfect and easy to find). 

2. 🍯

Although it sounds a little silly (and has prompted my friends to text back, “Is that a pot of honey? I’ve never seen anyone use it before” and “Loll you use that emoji a lot, but I love that for you”), the pot of honey emoji is one I have discovered recently and has become a sweet, sticky addition to my favorite emoji collection. I love using emojis to make texts feel more personal and gentle, and the honey pot emoji feels like a perfect way to express that — the honey dripping off the sides of the pot could be an overflow of giggles, sweet desserts or happy nighttime conversations.

1. 😭

A flood of tears, drenching the small yellow emojis down to the bottom of its cheeks, its chin. The emoji first seemed excessive to me, overzealous. Now it’s become one of my favorites, exactly for that reason: I love how it seems to communicate not sadness or sorrow but a flooding of emotion itself, any sort of emotion at all. I find myself using it when I want to show how deeply something has affected me or meant to me while using a more understated reaction than a flurry of revolving hearts. Recent texts include, “Thank you so much 😭” or “I’m so proud of you 😭.” This is the perfect emoji to have in your back pocket, ready to pull out at any moment to show exactly what emojis are supposed to show — the little soft feeling that you can communicate through your voice but is sometimes difficult to represent in a wall of black text. 

(Honorable mentions include the cactus emoji🌵, the open hand emoji✋ and the soft smile emoji that has a little tear right below the eye🥲)

Friday five is an opinion repeater in which a staff member presents their top five items across various categories. Reasoning will be provided, views challenged and debates expected.