PHP - Is It Really Empty?

functions.php

/** 
 * is_it_empty
 * 
 * Gets whether a variable is empty, null, or 'null'
 * 
 * @since 7.4
 * @access public
 * @static
 * @author Kevin Pirnie <[email protected]>
 * @package Kevin's Spam Stop
 * 
 * @return bool Returns if the variable testing is empty, null, or 'null'
 * 
*/
public static function is_it_empty( $_val ) : bool {

	// return from the test
	return ( ( empty( $_val ) ) || ( is_null( $_val ) ) || ( 'null' === $_val ) ) ?: false;

}