If they're using something a lot that's non-default, and they have to go out of their way to select it...?
Yeah, it does mean those people want it.
There's literally no other way to interpret it.
Yeah, it does mean those people want it.
There's literally no other way to interpret it.
Or, people can suffer through a certain amount of bullshit in order to get to their goals. The word you're looking for is "instrumental" -- there's your missing interpretation.
At some point in the past ten or so years, the cultural discourse has devolved to such an extent that people cannot think even one move ahead. Zero tolerance manicheanism rules everything now.
People are clearly using the emoji they want because they want to in and of itself, end of story.
They're not doing it to satisfy the government or access software or whatever. And no, I'm not looking for the word "instrumental", because emoji are about expression, which is literally the polar opposite of something being instrumental.
Sometimes it's not about looking twenty moves ahead. Some things are just valuable in and of themselves. Some things are about the moment. Perhaps that's the perspective you're missing here?
Just because some things are instrumental doesn't mean everything is. And thank goodness for that!
Just one look at the way these color pickers are presented on first use, and how that selection becomes the default thereafter, tells you everything you need to know about the flimsy basis of your claims. The picker pops up and interrupts you while you're in the middle of writing a message, and then persists your choice. It's a speed bump on the way to your actual goal -- gosh, does anyone have a word for that sort of thing?
A person would have to be mighty well motivated to believe that this would be evidence of a latent demand for self-expression via skin tone.