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Bitmoji: A Thread
With the pandemic forcing most teachers to adopt an online persona, Bitmoji has emerged as the go-to avatar generator. Few will be surprised that I have mixed feelings about this.
With the pandemic forcing most teachers to adopt an online persona, Bitmoji has emerged as the go-to avatar generator. Few will be surprised that I have mixed feelings about this.
I think that the prevailing argument for widespread Bitmoji use is creating a welcoming online environment. I get that. Under normal circumstances, teachers have a wide range of aesthetic tools at their disposal to create a classroom that they feel is inviting.
I’ll pause here and say this: a lot of pre-pandemic physical classrooms (especially in elementary) were not as much warm & welcoming as they were visually over-stimulating, cluttered, and sometimes self-indulgent. I’m guilty of that, too. But it’s important to bear this in mind.
It’s entirely that our compulsion to make classrooms over-decorated in the real world is bleeding into our digital learning spaces. I think one exaggerated manifestation of this could be Bitmoji if we’re not careful.
So much of classroom design is based on our assumption that kids need in-your-face visuals to feel excited to be in school. Spoiler alert: they don’t. Generally, a positive attitude and a little charisma to a long way toward getting kids to want to come to class.
Littering pixels with cartoon caricatures of ourselves is just the latest way in which we’re bombarding brains with superfluous stimuli.
Many districts have not yet started online classes, but already Bitmoji has become a pretty prevalent fixture of digital educational spaces. This means that both parents and students are becoming accustomed to these images. At this point, using these avatars is a bit unavoidable.
I think this is ok. If I stand to win the hearts and minds of parents with a few well-places avatars, it’s worth it. I just don’t want my cartoonish visage to replace my own presence.
It’s here I’m going to pivot a bit and go full Nick Harris: I do think that Bitmoji overuse poses a greater existential threat to the education profession. Year me out.
Education is a societal beast of burden. Whenever a new societal ill emerges, teachers are usually the first to stand up and take the blame and the responsibility. We are consistently maligned, underfunded, and overworked. And we do it all with a smile!
The public at large is quick to pass the buck for a great many cultural, political, economic, and societal issues and we’re happy to take it. In many ways (most unavoidable) we as a profession have trained the world how to treat us.
If the public looks at our profession now, in the midst of a global crisis and quite literally sees a cartoon smiling back, they’re apt to not take us very seriously and therefore more apt to keep heaping new burdens upon us.
This is, of course, an extreme take and I think that most Bitmoji use is immediately harmless. I will however take this opportunity to remind my fellow teachers that most of us have two college degrees and thousands of hours of professional development. We are academics.
All this being said: I am quite confident that my Bitmoji looks more accurate than any of yours and I’ll fight you about it.
