Bring Back The Old!!

By Mary Idowu and Jamike Ekennia


WhatsApp! One of the most popular and convenient messaging application ever designed by man. It's like God's instant messaging gift to our generation. It's easy to use, cheap, efficient - it has brought ease to our communications and has almost made text messaging obsolete. It's even cooler than text messaging! I mean; you can send pictures and videos! Cool right?! Yeah...cool, till they broke my heart!



I remember sometime in 2012, or 2013 when I first heard of WhatsApp. It was a messaging app that was only accessible to android phones and a few Nokia phones. Even the 'phone of that era - Blackberry' didn't have the honor of it's awesome presence. I remembered people trying different hacks to get it on their 'Nokia Asa' phones back then. Gradually, it became available to other phones including those BlackBerry phones - and when the Blackberry popularity phased out, WhatsApp still remained. It even stood available for the iphones. Those phones that didn't have WhatsApp became obsolete and out of the game. (Look around you)

Now, like every good app out there, WhatsApp is usually updated for new features. Most times the new features are usually cool. Like that time they added new emojis, which was pretty cool. Then they introduced cool stuff like WhatsApp video calls and videos. The WhatsApp call and videos added a whole new definition to the term cool. Although the networks in Nigeria made these features difficult to enjoy, it was still cool. Then they introduced WhatsApp status where you could post different things very much like Snapchat - except for the cool filters which were conspicuously absent.

Apple emojis keep making us happy

and happier still

One of the things I really like about WhatsApp is the fact that it is one of the most controlled forms of social media; you get to control who sees your status and who sees your display pictures. You get to keep out unwanted viewers off your WhatsApp story. Still all cool right?

But then they broke my heart with their latest update! That's the version 2.17.395. I got the notification for a new update last week and I was really looking forward to updating it so that I could assess the cool features therein; but lo and behold! It was a disappointment. The emojis! They are weird, irritating and fake looking! Whatsapp has introduced it's own versions of apple emojis - that frankly, nobody asked for.

I still don't want to believe that the emojis are real. They changed everything and it looks like plastic! I mean, its not the usual lovable and really interesting to use WhatsApp emojis I used to know. They stripped me of my WhatsApp love. It might sound like I'm over reacting or probably exaggerating, but I know a handful of people who have updated their WhatsApp and they are not so impressed by it.

The new emojis, in my humble yet oh-so-powerful opinion are very unncessary. Apart from slight changes, like the emojis looking more cartoonish and silly, there doesn't seem to much of a difference. But to those of us who use specific emojis, for specific reactions - this is a really unwanted game changer.

The hand-on-chin thinking smiley is weirder and on the opposite side, the poo emoji is slightly more plump, they've switched the colors of the clothes of the men and women and all sorts of weird things. I could go on and on, but I don't want you start running from my articles so I'll just end it here.

The sad fact is, even after all the complaiing and unhappiness we're ranting on with, just like most things in life out of your control, we will simply 'get used to it'.

What a world we live in. What a WhatsApp we use.


(Do comment below on the emoji you miss the most.)


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