Do you wear glasses? Are you sick of the “nerd” emoji meme popping up on your social media? One 10-year-old from Peppard, Oxfordshire, in the UK, wants to change Apple’s “nerd” emoji to save glasses wearers everywhere.
Type “nerd” into your Messages app, and your iPhone’s keyboard will prompt an emoji with glasses and two huge front teeth. 10-year-old Teddy has started a petition to raise awareness and get Apple to change the emoji.
Speaking to the BBC, Teddy said, "We want to change this - Apple is making it absolutely horrible for people wearing glasses."
“They're making people think we're nerds and it's absolutely horrible.”
"It's making me feel sad and upset, and if I find it offensive there'll be thousands of people around the world that find it offensive too."
The “nerd” emoji is often used online to “make fun of largely subjective technical arguments that people in a given fandom, particularly music nerds, make to call something bad.” according to Know Your Meme.
However, it can take a more sinister turn, as the comments on the tweet of the original BBC article of Teddy’s story littered with “nerd” emojis proves.
Teddy launched the campaign after seeing the emoji while texting a family member. He decided to raise the concern with his teacher, who helped him start the petition to get Apple’s attention.
A glasses emoji with style
Teddy has drawn an alternative version of the “nerd” emoji that he believes shines a positive light on glasses — he also wants it renamed to the “genius” emoji.
"It's got thin lenses and thin frames... and then it's got a little smiley face instead of the horrible rabbit teeth,"
Teddy likes wearing his glasses, “they make me see a lot better, and they look good and stylish."
While Apple has yet to comment on his proposal, Teddy hopes that speaking up about this problem will change how he and others are perceived for wearing glasses.
We’ll have to wait and see if Apple responds, but if they do, there will be one very happy 10-year-old and many other happy children, no longer worried about feeling like “nerds.”
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