THE HILARY HENINGER

I love a good emoji as much as the next person. I use a lot of them when I text. I like to think that I might even excel at them in terms of conversational prowess, sprinkling them throughout my texts, just so, yet telling a rich 💸 sophisticated story about the drama 🎭 of my day (at least that is my interpretation).

Like a digital Pictionary champ🥇 I can convey an entire conversation or relay an entire thought through a single emoji. I even use them to represent people I know (let’s not ask me what your emoji is. . . just in case 😉 ). I pride myself on that skill set without having gone so far as adding it to my resume – I’m not quite there yet – but give me time.

I think it’s brilliant that we live in a time where we get to have daily conversations that utilize exploding heads 🤯 , giant wandering eyes 👀 , and cheese 🧀, so many uses for the cheese, to convey our thoughts -although my dad has hated a few of my texts and then followed up with all smiles 🙂, so let’s just say that certain age demographics 👴🏽 might still working out the kinks. I’m personally a big LOL’er 😂 myself , however, as a parent of teenagers the rage 😡, devil 👿, and OMG 😱 are currently on rotation more than they probably should be. What a time to be alive!

The best part of emojis is that they aren’t even reserved for casual conversations anymore. Co workers, bosses, associates 🏢, it’s a level playing field in terms of communicating with a single image that we all agree is completely appropriate and, dare I say, maybe even still semi-professional. I have had more than one client utilize an emoji or two to convey the delight 🙂 , laughter 😆 or chaos 🤪of what is currently happening for them. It works, and lets people connect in a casual way without getting into too much conversation, and as someone who has rarely met an hour 🕔 long meeting that was necessary I am here for keeping things short, sweet and concise.

Regardless of who I am texting or chatting with, I can say that I am an equal opportunity emoji user and receiver. Except for One.

The dreaded ‘thumbs up’ 👍🏻.

It’s like the passive aggressive (feels more like an ‘eff you’) of emojis and something that is only to be used with kid gloves, in the most familiar of situations, when you have already received a pre-authorization, from the other party, that you have agreed in advance what this means so you do not cause, ‘one of those’ arguments, where you have to apologize more for the reaction than the initial conflict. You know what I’m talking about – yes, one of those fights.

I will admit it was a ‘hands 🤚🏽 off’ emoji in my last relationship being equally understood as having nuclear capabilities when implemented by either party.

There really isn’t a more polarizing emoji. So, let this be your warning to proceed with caution🚦 And if it’s currently in your rotation may I suggest you read on to decide if it’s still the emoji for you.

Let’s be real – the reason it’s such a terrible emoji is because of three things:

1. Reason 1: It’s not real life! When was the last time you actually gave someone a thumbs up 👍🏻? Can you imagine turning to your co-worker who just crushed a presentation or a client who just paid for a service, or your hairdresser after she gave you the perfect ombre and beach waves and giving them a big ol’ thumbs up in response? No. No, you can’t. Because it would be your first and last interaction with those people. You’d be relegated to this look 👀, and for good reason weirdo.
2. Reason 2: Nobody knows what it means!! Much like the toothpaste researchers claimed to have done by surveying 9/10 dentists 🦷, I bet if you polled 10 people they wouldn’t all agree on the meaning. For the love of god the internet 👩🏽‍💻 doesn’t even agree on the definition, so how are we supposed to? does it symbolize ‘ok’? does it mean ‘great job’? or is it more like ‘fine’ , because we all know as soon as someone starts responding with ‘fine’ you have officially entered the pre-fight 🥊 zone and nobody knows how long we spend there before it all comes out and we realize they’ve been fuming 🌋 since some time last week (3:21pm to be exact) when you first asked them (very politely) to take out the recycling ♲ (17 times).
3. It’s a lazy emoji. You have 3,664 emojis to choose from and while I will agree with you that the LOL 😂 and angry face 😡 are likely getting more than their fair share of the spotlight, there is absolutely a better option than the thumbs up. A shrug 🤷🏻‍♀️ , a ‘you’ve got to be kidding me ‘🤦🏽? See, now you’re talking – because there is no way that one of those is going to put me in a bad mood, even if I think you’re being passive aggressive, because I can at least appreciate that you’re doing it creatively. Just not the 👍🏻 . It’s almost as bad a response as ‘k’. Like I’m sorry is one thumb on hiatus that you can’t also type the ‘o’ for a complete thought? Stay on target hilary.

So, there you have it. No more excuses. You have all the information to make an educated , responsible and friendly choice with your emojis – we’re good 👍🏻?