--- title: GIF and Emoji Survey: Many Millennials Prefer Them to Words description: A new survey asks adults why they turn to pictures when they're using text and mobile messages canonical: https://time.com/4834112/millennials-gifs-emojis/ author: Katy Steinmetz article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-06-27T13:00:57.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-08T09:20:26.588Z og:title: Millennials Say GIFs, Emojis Communicate Their Thoughts Better Than Words og:description: A new survey shows just how much millennials prefer the digital tools og:url: https://time.com/4834112/millennials-gifs-emojis/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt92103d38195664bd/69889815656a3f9a4ebcbf05/gettyimages-483133386.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3900 og:image:height: 2194 og:image:alt: FRANCE-TELECOM-MEDIA-INTERNET-MARKETING og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Millennials Say GIFs, Emojis Communicate Their Thoughts Better Than Words twitter:description: A new survey shows just how much millennials prefer the digital tools twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt92103d38195664bd/69889815656a3f9a4ebcbf05/gettyimages-483133386.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Forget Words, a Lot of Millennials Say GIFs and Emojis Communicate Their Thoughts Better Than English > Sponsored content. 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Emoji for sneezing, selfies and more are coming to the iPhone_ by [Katy Steinmetz](https://time.com/author/katy-steinmetz/) ## Katy Steinmetz Jun 27, 2017 1:00 PM UTC If you ask millennials, a picture is better than actual words. by [Katy Steinmetz](https://time.com/author/katy-steinmetz/) ## Katy Steinmetz Jun 27, 2017 1:00 PM UTC Visuals like [emojis](http://time.com/3000978/the-emojis-strange-power/) and [GIFs](http://time.com/4275521/gif-photography/) 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](https://tenor.com/), 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](https://www.wsj.com/articles/happy-birthday-to-gif-a-tech-term-thats-aged-well-1492793930), 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.” ## Transcript [00:16] [ SOUND ] [ MUSIC ] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4834112/millennials-gifs-emojis/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4834112/millennials-gifs-emojis/"},"headline":"Forget Words, a Lot of Millennials Say GIFs and Emojis Communicate Their Thoughts Better Than English","datePublished":"2017-06-27T13:00:57.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-08T09:20:26.588Z","description":"A new survey shows just how much millennials prefer the digital tools","url":"https://time.com/4834112/millennials-gifs-emojis/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Tech","language","onetime","apester"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt92103d38195664bd/69889815656a3f9a4ebcbf05/gettyimages-483133386.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katy Steinmetz","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/katy-steinmetz/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt92103d38195664bd/69889815656a3f9a4ebcbf05/gettyimages-483133386.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"FRANCE-TELECOM-MEDIA-INTERNET-MARKETING","caption":"FRANCE-TELECOM-MEDIA-INTERNET-MARKETING","creditText":"Miguel Medina— AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4834112/millennials-gifs-emojis/","name":"Forget Words, a Lot of Millennials Say GIFs and Emojis Communicate Their Thoughts Better Than English"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Millennials More Comfortable With Emojis Then Words","description":"If you ask millennials, a picture is better than actual words.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/mzRGCqy7/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2017-06-28T13:38:42.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/mzRGCqy7.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4834112/millennials-gifs-emojis/","duration":"PT1M3S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4834112/millennials-gifs-emojis/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Here Are the New Emoji Coming to Your iPhone (and How to Get Them)","description":"Emoji for sneezing, selfies and more are coming to the iPhone","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/mEiKhvp8/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-12-13T18:08:50.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/mEiKhvp8.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4834112/millennials-gifs-emojis/","duration":"PT31S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4834112/millennials-gifs-emojis/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```