4 Reasons to Stop Using Emojis Right Now
A small face that’s killing your conversations.
Personally, I’m a daily user of emojis in texting, and I’ve considered them a great tool to illustrate my emotions more vividly.
However, there’s a reason why it’s called “texting", right? You’re supposed to use words to express yourself.
Emojis make us put all our emotions into one simple figure, thus standardizing them.
Happiness looks like this 😂 and sadness like this 😭.
But we don’t love in the same way.
We don’t laugh in the same way.
We don’t cry in the same way.
We’re unique beings and a way to show this uniqueness is by expressing using different words that specify the way we feel.
When we put an emoji at the end of a sentence we try to put emotions there. However, emojis show so little compared to words, and I’ll tell you four reasons why we should stop using them.
1. Leave Space for Misunderstanding
We face different situations daily that make us feel intense emotions, and we get entangled in some which we wouldn’t want to be in. Especially when having a fight with people we care about, or even when trying to speak about causes or events happening around you.
2. Emojis Hurt Your Writing Skills
Instead of working your brain to find words that describe your state or reaction you skip the hard work and send an emoji. Think about it. That’s why we’re becoming dumber. (Let’s not talk about abbreviations, lol.)
3. Lack of Seriosity
A few days ago I was having coffee with a close friend of mine. We had exchanged a few messages that day and he had seen a chat with me and my literature. “Damn, man. That’s quite unprofessional. What’s that emoji doing over there?!”
Partially, he was right. Using emojis in formal conversations is wrong UNLESS you’ve already established a good relationship with the other person. It shows that you’re too naive, easy to be manipulated, and not serious.
4. Shows Weakness
Social media has trained our brains to trust images more than words. I mean, when was the last time you’ve read a real book? That’s where proofread words hold profound meaning and each word matters.
But in social media, emoticons disregard words. Someone can write 1000 words and say very little compared to the images and emoticons used. They’re unable to express themselves, and put thoughts into order.
Any Case When Emojis Are Helpful?
After learning how emojis impact the way we express, we might want to stop using them altogether right? Only if it was that easy.
Now that we have created an alter-ego in front of a few people, it’s difficult to completely switch to not using emojis, not only because it seems weird, but because our communication is based on heavy use of them.
So, that leads to the question: when should we use emojis?
When We Want Only Small Talk
Emojis are a wonderful weapon to terminate conversations. (Another way is by leaving people ‘seen’ but emojis hurt less and you probably wouldn’t want to lose your grace by doing that.)
You Want to Capture Users’ Attention
For anyone trying to receive business from social media, we have to adapt. If you care about capturing the attention of users, and making your product more appealing, emojis make posts more attractive, captivating, and less painful to read.
To Emphasize Emotions
Most of the times emojis are used to replace words, but what if we combine the two of them? Can we word our feelings and then add those small icons at the end? Could we take the extra time needed to be more detailed about our feelings instead of sending a general and ambiguous reaction?
In a Nutshell
Emojis can lead to watery conversations and ruined relationships. Without understanding, you might be creating an alter-ego that portrays the true you only a little and hides what you truly feel.
However, if used wisely, they can strengthen what you’re saying as if you were face-to-face with the readers or viewers. Even though this depends on the perception of the other person and what they attach each emoji with.
