Getting Over-heated....

                                   Yes, that's me. Worried. I thought that it might not be clear from my writing that I am concerned. So I thought that you might need a visual marker. You know, to set the tone.
Now you are beginning to worry that I have lost my marbles. Yes, those bright yellow ones with silly faces on them.
I confess I have an ambivalent attitude to emojis. They are there like shiny additions to the toy cupboard that jump up and down saying "Use me! No, use Me!" Someone's birthday? Why not bring in a birthday cake? A balloon? Well, hell, let's throw in a glass of red wine for good measure. Oh, go on, make it two... Soon your conservative text is peppered with tiny visual images that require magnifying glasses to decipher. I once sent my daughter a thumbs up to which she instantly responded, "What on earth is that ?" And sure enough, without glasses it could surely be mistaken for some primitive penile symbol. No wonder she was discombobulated. So you see, after that, I eased up on the emojis. Frankly, they are a young person's plaything and we elders should leave them in the cupboard where they belong.
As the children were growing up, Roger Hargreaves produced the series of Mr Men books and then to even things up The Little Misses. Did I rant and roar about the simplicity of the tales like various librarians had done about Enid Blyton, a generation earlier? No. I'd lapped up Enid Blyton from the Famous Five to The Naughtiest Girl in the School, and  as a parent, was happy enough when a Mr Men book had been selected at children's bedtime because it meant a quicker getaway. (Shameful confession, but sometimes it was hard to promote literacy at the end of a long day with an even longer night ahead..)
So why am I worried when I read today that Penguin Random House will release four Emoji books about Heart Eyes, Sassy Girl, Laughing Crying and Pile of Poo. It makes me weep to think that literacy can become this reductive. But there we are, hardly surprising when, by all accounts we are in the midst of Pokemon mania which is causing much excitement amongst the young. Popping Candy for the Mind. And dangerously addictive.
Like all crazes, it will burn itself out, and hopefully before too many people have been mown down by buses or fallen from cliff-paths. It is just another example of mind-manipulation and an opportunity for another big boy conglomerate to squeeze the pips out of a gullible populace.
It might be the heat, but I sound really old and crabby.
Who needs an emoji for that?