I use emojis very sparingly, usually at the end of a sentence analogous to a punctuation mark. I never use more than two in a row, and never more than one of the same one.
In texting and messaging apps (as well as emails if I’m using Outlook) I may respond with a single emoji, often 👍, to indicate that I received the message and will comply with any requests.
The above demonstrates what I believe are the ideal use of emojis, as a compact way to express an otherwise unwieldy response, or a way to convey things like tone of voice and facial expression that is present in a face to face conversation but not in writing.
However, In my opinion, emojis rob the conversation of any gravitas whatsoever, so responding to “My dog died yesterday” with “I’m so sorry 😭😭😭” makes it sound like you’re making light of the situation. I get others may not feel the same way, so I don’t call them out when they do it, but it rubs me the wrong way personally.
Most screen readers will read out the unicode description of the character or render the description as a transcriber’s note on a braille display, so 🤮 is announced as face vomiting and written ⠈⠨⠣⠋⠁⠉⠑⠀⠧⠕⠍⠊⠞⠬⠈⠨⠜. If you spam a bunch (🔥🔥🔥🤣🤣🤣) it can quickly get very long.
It’s also apparent that people use the “wrong” emoji for the situation, and I don’t mean in the sense that the semantics of the symbol have widened or changed with usage. 😂 is often used to express sadness, when the description is “face with tears of joy”. 😢"crying face" would be much more apt.
I basically use emoji like you.
Reactions: 👍 = okay. ♥️ = thank you/okay/general affinity. 💯 = I agree (mostly used in group chats). 💪, 🔥🎉,🎊, or 💥 = nice work/congratulations. 🥲, 😢, 💔, or 😭 = I got your message, but I don’t like it.
Sometimes I will use them to emphasize my own messages. Like I will say “Sorry I can’t make it, already have other plans 😭”. But the intent here is to indicate that I am disappointed, but don’t feel too bad about it. I would never say “Sorry your dog died 😭”, because emoji by their nature add too much levity to such a statement.
And then, of course, there are the flirting emoji, 🍑😍😈🔥🤤😏😳😘🥰😍😜🥵🍆💦🚩, which I probably use too much for my own good.
Using multiple emoji in a row is used to indicate emphasis or excitement. So a friend’s announcement of an accomplishment in a group thread might earn a 💪💪💪, or a partner’s sexy pic might get a 🥵🥵🥵 (followed up with an appropriate text response, of course)
The use of multiple emoji to indicate a thought or feeling is used as a joke, basically making fun of the way boomers use emoji. My favorite example being 🎸🇺🇸🦅, which is also an Always Sunny reference.
I think this depends heavily on which ones you use. The simple ones like 🙁 are fine (IMO); they’re often autocorrected from :( which I’ve never seen as making light of the situation. I use those a lot just to indicate the tone of a message. There’s a big difference between “I’m so sorry 🙁” and “I’m so sorry 😉”.