Many people have compared modern emojis to ancient hieroglyphs. A joke was posted on Twitter by moh’d‏ on July 27, 2017:
   
“Yo momma so old *how old is she* she was using emojis back when they were called hieroglyphics.”
 
A similar joke was posted on Twitter by William Ader on July 28, 2017:
   
“I’m old enough to remember when emojis were called ‘hieroglyphics.’”
   
   
Wikipedia: Emoji
Emoji (Japanese: 絵文字えもじ, pronounced [emodʑi]; English: /ᵻˈmoʊdʒi/, also US: /iːˈmoʊdʒi/; singular emoji, plural emoji or emojis) are ideograms and smileys used in electronic messages and Web pages. Emoji are used much like emoticons and exist in various genres, including facial expressions, common objects, places and types of weather, and animals.
 
Originating on Japanese mobile phones in the late 1990s, emoji have become increasingly popular worldwide since their international inclusion in Apple’s iPhone, which was followed by similar adoption by Android and other mobile operating systems.
 
Wikipedia: Hieroglyph
A hieroglyph (Greek for “sacred writing”) is a character of the ancient Egyptian writing system. Logographic scripts that are pictographic in form in a way reminiscent of ancient Egyptian are also sometimes called “hieroglyphs”. In Neoplatonism, especially during the Renaissance, a “hieroglyph” was an artistic representation of an esoteric idea, which Neoplatonists believed actual Egyptian hieroglyphs to be. The word hieroglyphics refer to a hieroglyphic script. Unlike English, the hieroglyphic script was spelt exactly as it was sounded out. Only those privileged with an extensive education (i.e. the Pharaoh, nobility and priests) were able to read and write hieroglyphs; others used simpler ‘joined-up’ versions: demotic and hieratic script.
 
Twitter
Marcus Bradshaw‏
@Marcus_Bradshaw
“@Mel_IsAnEmu: Egyptians actually came up with emojis. They’re called hieroglyphics.” #re
5:24 PM - 26 Sep 2012
 
Twitter
Trey‏
@treyjcbs
Emojis are basic. The Ancient Egyptians had emojis, they were called hieroglyphics.
Y’all need to catch up. We got letters now.
8:07 PM - 27 Nov 2013
 
Twitter
Josh Sands‏
@spinladen
Ancient Egyptians had their own emojis called hieroglyphics #fyi
9:45 PM - 5 May 2015
 
Twitter
Noel Rogers‏
@ndotrogers
I liked emojis better back when they were called “hieroglyphics”
5:13 PM - 11 Nov 2016
 
Twitter
moh’d‏
@mohdstudio
Yo momma so old *how old is she* she was using emojis back when they were called hieroglyphics.
9:40 PM - 27 Jul 2017
   
Twitter
Just Bill ❄‏
@WilliamAder
I’m old enough to remember when emojis were called “hieroglyphics.”
6:52 AM - 28 Jul 2017