Visuals like emojis and GIFs can make up for the useful cues that are often missing from digital chit-chatting: the raise of an eyebrow, the shrug of the shoulders, the rolling of an eye. But a new survey reveals that many people believe those visuals aren’t just helpful for adding clarity in text and mobile messages. They actually feel that they can better express themselves through these digital tools than through old-fashioned English.
In a survey conducted by Harris Poll and commissioned by GIF platform Tenor, 36% of millennials ages 18 to 34 who use “visual expressions” such as emojis, GIFs and stickers say that those images better communicate their thoughts and feelings than words do. That’s more than twice the amount of people over the age of 65 who say the same. Roughly a quarter of people in the age groups between those two demographics feel that images can paint a clearer picture than words.
When asked solely about conveying emotion through animated images, the preference was even greater: Nearly two-thirds of millennials said GIFs did the job better than words, compared to about 40% of those in their golden years. “People fundamentally crave the ability to express the full range of human emotions,” said Tenor CEO David McIntosh. And unlike emojis — a static and limited set of images — GIFs can intersect with moments of pop culture that convey a far broader range of sentiments (and inside jokes).
The poll, released Tuesday, surveyed more than 2,000 U.S. adults in May. Of the sample, about 1,400 said they use such visuals in text or mobile messaging. And when asked the question with slightly different wording — whether those images help people better understand “the thoughts and feelings I’m trying to communicate” than words alone — almost 80% agreed.
While the majority of people across age groups also said they feel “more connected” to people they frequently message when using emojis and GIFs, young people expressed a much higher level of comfort with smiley faces than actual dialogue. When asked whether they are “more comfortable” expressing emotions through those visuals than through phone conversations, 68% of millennials agreed, compared to 37% of those over the age of 65.
McIntosh said the company frequently surveys its users and keeps track of what people are searching for when they go looking for a GIF. The company has counted up billions of unique searches — for “smile” or “smirk” or “smh” — that users often make a lot more specific by combining with a person or movie or moment. After all, a “Steph Curry smile” is a lot different than a grin from a Cheshire cat or a beamer from Harry Potter.
The term GIF is 30 years old this year, but as technology has improved and the amount of digital video has exploded, those graphic files have become a language of their own. As McIntosh put it, what might seem like goofy nonsense does useful work in helping people “more accurately express the thoughts and feelings and emotions trapped in their head.”
They’re also just a good time. More than half of people of all ages said they use emojis and GIFs in messages to make people laugh, to lighten the mood and because they “make conversations more fun.”
FAQs
Visual processing within the brain takes place approximately 60,000 times faster than the way our brains process text. We will prefer a moving image to a static one. We will prefer a moving image with a person to a moving image of a landscape.
Why do millennials use GIFs? ›
Responding with a GIF adds a visual element to the conversation that goes beyond text to express emotion. Oftentimes, GIFs have some connection to pop culture. Gen Zers and millennials use them quite often, but did you know that there's GIF scholarship that sheds light on what your use of GIFs says about you?
What does Gen Z use instead of GIFs? ›
Gen Z is hardly the first people to work out how to send a GIF, of course, and there are plenty of internet memes older than all of them. But Gen Z is more comfortable expressing their thoughts, messages, or feelings through GIFs, TikToks, emojis, memes, and abbreviations both in and outside of a work setting.
How did the GIFs and emojis change the way we communicate? ›
Due to the need to express emotions through text messages, these icons have changed the way we use digital communication. The use of emoji has become the cornerstone of our communication methods and how we communicate a message and a sense of emotion to others.
What are the disadvantages of GIFs? ›
The GIF file format only supports a palette of 256 colors, meaning images may have a low resolution or even look slightly blurry. Because they use multiple images, animated GIF files can sometimes be tricky to return to and edit.
Is using GIFs outdated? ›
According to Ryan Broderick, an internet culture writer, there is indeed a significant divide between generations and their perceptions of technology. In his view, the use of GIFs as a popular means of communication is becoming increasingly outdated and has become a hindrance in the future of work.
What is the difference between Gen Z and Millennial emojis? ›
Millennials usually use the emoji the way it's intended — to show affection towards others. However, Gen Z uses it sarcastically most of the time. For example, when answering a question but trying to let the other person down gently, the answer will probably be a "no" accompanied by the heart emoji.
What are the three types of GIFs? ›
For simplicity, we classify the different types of GIFs into 3 major categories: video-based, animation-based, and stickers. Video-based GIFs are the most traditional GIF that you're probably familiar with. They feature short clips of video content.
What do Gen Z use to message? ›
Among all digital ways of communicating, texting is the preferred choice for Generation Z employees. However, remember that this group of people is used to quick and concise content. Also, most of the information they consume is written in an informal tone.
Why do people send emojis instead of words? ›
Not surprisingly, many people prefer to use an emoji rather than words to express their emotions. This is likely related to the difficulty of conveying emotion through messaging without visual cues like facial expressions and body language—something that was echoed in our survey.
Most of our communication is nonverbal cues. Emojis add emotion to formal conversations, helping to create richer and more meaningful conversations by clarifying the tone of the written conversation.
Do emojis help people express themselves better? ›
Boutet believes it is important to promote the use of emojis for older adults because of their communicative function and ability to facilitate intergenerational interactions, reduce loneliness, and help users of all ages fulfill their social and emotional goals.
What are the advantages of using GIF? ›
Whether you know the source material or not, GIFs have the power to express a simple message, effectively. This is because they're smaller than a video. They can't hold sound, so there's less to cognitively process. And their short, looping nature, means you can get across a single message concisely.
Why GIFs are the best? ›
It's an unbelievably efficient, elegant, and simple way to convey unbelievable amounts of information in a simple way. Think of it this way, if a picture is worth 1000 words, an animated GIF is worth 1,000,000 words.
Why do people like GIFs so much? ›
When communicating via devices, we often want to convey complex feelings in an instant, and we don't want to faff about with fiddly little keyboards. With their dynamic images and amusing straplines, animated GIFs allow us to do just that – in a sense, we're using other people's reactions to represent our own.
What is the main benefit of using GIFs in social content? ›
Question: What is the main benefit of using animated GIFs in social content? They help you make light of what would otherwise feel like serious content. They help you demonstrate complex concepts quickly and easily. They help you show how culturally in-touch you are.
