Emoodicons as social commentary: emoodicon

Derek E. Baird of Barking Robot wrote us up in a nice blog post yesterday: Emoodicon: Come On Get Happy!

Back in the 1970s, the Boomer's went wild for their mood rings. Now their spawn, those totally wired Gen Y kids, are going wild for their version of the mood ring—Emoodicon.

This is a nifty way for the lol, omg, kthksbye, twitter, texting, blogging, loving kids to share their emotional state when they are away from the computer. You know. Outside.

Derek is a technology consultant and author specializing in social media, youth marketing, educational media and online communities, so it makes sense that he'd take a deeper look at the implications of offline emoticon use… My favorite bit of his post was this:

It's also an interesting social commentary, showing the depth of the love affair that kids today have with technology. Using symbols from the keyboard and online world to communicate their true feelings.

I usually try to work a few levels of depth into any artwork I do… There needs to be something basic, direct and exciting that everyone sees right off the bat, but I think it's important to have something built in that rewards the person who takes time to look at art critically too. Derek nails the ironic value, but I think his post also suggests one of the more interesting ideas I was going for with Emoodicon: the notion that by playing with the ring, you can actually get a better grasp on how you are feeling.

It's a way of being conscious about your emotions by specifically choosing how you want to represent them. Can a toy lead to greater self-awareness? Absolutely. Can Emoodicons help teens navigate through all the emotional upheaval of growing towards adulthood? Why Not? Maybe Emoodicons can even help parents to understand what their kids are feeling… Now that would be an amazing feat for a piece of jewelry, wouldn't it?