If you’ve already updated your iOS software to 9.1, you might have noticed a whole new range of emojis – cheese, finally, cheese! But there’s one you may have overlooked.
This lil’ guy:
While an eye in a speech bubble may not be the first to enter your ‘Recently Used’ based purely on appearance, it’s actually super helpful and important. It’s the icon of Apple‘s new ‘I Am A Witness’ campaign, which (together with Facebook, Twitter & Google) seeks to confront and eradicate cyberbullying.
The idea is to turn silent bystanders, who witness online aggression but say nothing, into advocates who are comfortable to publically and vocally reject cyberbullying. The simplest ideas are always the most brilliant, no?
“The emoji enables teens to take a stand against bullying and show support for someone who is being bullied by posting it online or through a text message,” the campaign’s website states.“You’ve seen it: someone leaves a rude comment on someone’s page or video. Use the emoji to show it’s not OK.”
So, by posting the eye, the bully knows that someone is watching them, and disapproves of what they’re doing. And the victim feels supported.
The campaign video for #IAmAWitness stars digital influencers Noland Stewert, Chelsea Audrie, Margurite Bushiri , Avra Friedman, and Victor Rodriguez. They read awful tweets about themselves, and show that ‘Reading Mean Tweets’ isn’t as fun as late night talk show hosts make it out to be.
Watch below:
If you’d like to read more, visit: iwitnessbullying.org/
Apple users will automatically get the ‘I Am A Witness’ eye by downloading iOS 9.1, and Android users must download the I Am A Witness keyboard.
via ABC.
