Time. In Patrick Romeo’s “Emoji Hourglass”, it cycles through algebraic concepts, computer programming, and the Facebook thumbs up. The thumb sparkles, shoots, then multiplies, and eventually piles up, only to become all the keys on the keyboard.
In some ways, this seems to evoke the tragedy of the commons—we’re all acting independently of one another, in our own self-interest, exploiting a shared resource to the extent that demand overwhelms supply. Attention? Power sources? Pick and choose your economic measure. We generate these self-expressions using the same interfaces, and the intent behind those gestures become short-hand for approval, care, liking. Your ego counts the number of “likes”—we want all of our shared experiences to be applauded, but most importantly, acknowledged.
