I second that emoji

On the way home from dinner with girlfriends I composed my usual thank-you text. Smashing company, delicious food, must see you all again. A couple of kisses. Feeling this wasn’t enough, I added a line of coloured pictures: an ice cream in a cone, a slice of cake with a strawberry on top, a bar of chocolate, a cup of steaming coffee — near enough representations of the puddings we had shared.

The replies came back: smiley faces, rows of hearts, bowls of spaghetti (it had been an Italian), martini glasses.

My friends and I are in our late twenties and early thirties, yet we communicate using emoji: the sort of cute, pastel-coloured symbols that we’d have been embarrassed to have in our primary school sticker albums. What has possessed otherwise articulate, professional women — barristers, solicitors, doctors, English teachers, financial journalists, all with degrees — to end their text messages and social media posts with pink hearts, sparkly diamonds and glossy apples?

Until a few months ago, I rolled my eyes at smiley faces and bunny rabbits.