Emojis: Bridging Gaps in Text Communication

The subtle art of enhancing tone and avoiding misunderstandings.

Feb 08, 2025

Let’s talk about emojis. 😁 Those little icons that have gone from “quirky novelty” to “essential tool for avoiding awkward misunderstandings” over the past 25 years. Some love them, some hate them and to some, they're just... Meh 😑

I think emojis serve a useful purpose, they’re like the seasoning of digital communication, adding flavour and context to what might otherwise be a bland bowl of word soup. 🍜

Brevity Wins the Day?

Brevity vs breadth is something of a debate that I have weighed in on recently, ultimately I believe both have their place and it depends on the content being discussed, the message being put over and the method of communication.

Text messages especially are where brevity win the moment. I text daily, often to communicate with the ones I love the most, friends and colleagues. Keeping them short fits the medium. Then there is Substack Notes and those other shortform social media sites. Brevity has it’s place where there is a character count or where you don’t want to subject an author to an essay length comment. I’m often guilty of that, sorry! One way of helping to keep messages and comments brief is to use the humble emoji.

We had “Smilies” (or emoticons :) from the early days of text messaging and pagers <3, then in 1990 windows gave us the Wingdings font ☺, but the actual word “Emoji” wasn’t coined until 1999 when Shigetaka Kurita created 176, 12x12 pixel images starting with an umbrella ☂️ and texting has never been the same since.

All Smiles Here

Take the humble 😊. It’s a tidy way to say, I’m happy and content, without subjecting your reader to a wall of text. For instance:

“Thank you for reading and sharing 😊.”

This conveys the same sentiment as: “Thank you so much for reading and sharing, it made me really happy that you did that and I’m forever grateful.”

But with fewer words, less fuss, and a charming visual cue that says, I’m smiling, I’m happy.

Then there’s my personal favourite: the mighty 😂. It’s shorthand for I’m crying with laughter, sparing us all the melodramatic prose. Instead of: “I’m crying with laughter after reading this, what a great read,” You can simply say: “What a great read 😂.” Efficient, expressive, and just a bit cheeky. 😏

Hieroglyphics to Emojis: A Timeless Tradition

Some might argue that emojis aren’t a modern invention at all, ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics could be seen as the earliest form of emojis. These intricate symbols combined pictures and abstract concepts to convey complex ideas, much like how a single 😂 can encapsulate an entire reaction. Hieroglyphics, like emojis, relied heavily on context to be understood, making them a form of visual shorthand for communication.

While emojis live on our screens, hieroglyphics adorned temple walls and papyrus scrolls, showing that the human desire to use images to convey information spans millennia. If hieroglyphics aren’t the first emojis, perhaps medieval pictograms or cave art claim that title. Either way, we’ve always loved expressing ourselves visually.

When Context Goes Missing

Where emojis truly shine is in rescuing conversations from the brink of disaster. Consider this gem of ambiguity you might have been on the receiving end of:

“How ya doing?”

“Fine.”

Fine. A single word that could mean:

“I’m in a rush, but I’m okay.”
“I’m not okay, and if you cared, you’d already know why.”
“Fine, but I’m only saying that because I don’t want to make this awkward.”

But slap an emoji on it, and suddenly there’s clarity:

Fine 😊 – I’m genuinely happy.
Fine ❤️ – I love you, thanks for asking.
Fine 😒 – I’m feeling low.
Fine 🤷‍♂️ – I’ve got no idea what’s happening.
Fine 😎 – It’s all good mate.

One little icon, and the emotional minefield is defused. 💣➡️✨

Real-Life Chaos Avoided and Caused

Emojis aren’t just hypothetical heroes they’ve genuinely saved relationships (maybe even mine), clarified intentions, and prevented misunderstandings.

They can also cause chaos too though, take this example from a legal case in Israel:

A couple sent a landlord a series of texts agreeing to rent a property, including thumbs-up 👍, champagne bottle 🍾, a chipmunk(?) 🐿️ and smiley face 😊 emojis. The landlord thought it was a done deal and cancelled the listing. The couple? They backed out, the landlord sued, claiming the emojis created an impression of commitment causing him to remove the property from the rental market. Imagine if they’d just sent something clearer: 🤔 or 👀.

Here's the English translation of the message: "Good morning 😊 we want the house💃🏻👯‍✌️ we just need to go over the details ☄️🐿️🍾 When's good for you?"

Closer to home, imagine this classic text: “We need to talk.”

Cue panic, overthinking, and worst-case-scenario spirals. But add an emoji:

We need to talk 😊 – This is positive.
We need to talk 😬 – Prepare yourself, it could be bad.
We need to talk ❤️ – This is about feelings, but it’s coming from love. 💕

One emoji could spare someone a sleepless night. 😴💭 Interestingly enough if it is going to be a conversation that ends the relationship, the lack of an emoji gives more context than the presence of one. ☠️

More Than Words

Emojis also fill in the blanks for tone. Have you ever received a dry message that felt curt, only to find out the sender was in a rush and didn’t mean to sound short? Imagine a boss sending this:

“We can discuss your promotion tomorrow.”

No punctuation. No context. It feels ominous. Now try:

“We can discuss your promotion tomorrow 😊.” - Suddenly, it’s fine. Things are looking up, the job’s in the bag and the world isn’t ending. 🌍💫

“We can discuss your promotion tomorrow 📊.” - We need to talk numbers, be prepared.

“We can discuss your promotion tomorrow 🕵️‍♀️ 🖇️.” - I know it's you who has been stealing all the paperclips, don't expect the promotion.

Emojis in Writing: Yay or Nay?

I’m not saying emojis belong in books, although imagine Pride and Prejudice with emojis, I'd be more likely to read that. 🙈 for Mr Darcy’s first proposal. But in newsletters, notes, and comments? Absolutely. They’re a fantastic tool for retaining tone, especially when the written word sometimes struggles to carry emotion. 😌

I’ve learned this the hard way, typing out replies on my phone, painstakingly searching for the right emoji to add that crucial context. When I’m on my laptop, it used to be an ordeal: crafting smileys the old-fashioned way : ) and Googling emojis to then copy and paste.

But today, ok, by the time you read this it was probably weeks ago, I stumbled upon a life-changing discovery:

Windows: Press Windows key + full stop (.) or Windows key + semicolon (;)
Mac: Press Command + Control + Space

Suddenly, my laptop is no longer an emoji wasteland. Context can reign supreme, no matter what device I’m on. 🖥️✨

A Word of Caution

Not everyone loves emojis. Take Reddit, for example. Emojis are the black sheep of the communication family there, use them at your peril. It’s an unspoken rule that Redditors prefer their text emoji free, probably because it “disrupts the purity of the intense intellectual discourse” or something like that. 🤓

But in most other places? In the right context. Go ahead. Sprinkle them liberally. Emojis are here to make our digital lives clearer, friendlier, and maybe just a little bit funnier. 😊🎉

Your audience might thank you. 😎

Feel free to leave a comment, use words or emojis 👍