I am not anti reaction as such, especially when it's just a thumbs up, although I very seldom use it myself.
However I really struggle with emojis as a general concept. I don't understand a lot of them, and it seems people put a lot of hidden meaning into them that I have to interpret, and I feel the cognitive load is a lot bigger than if people would just type out what the fuck they are trying to say.
I think that the issue with emojis is that they're a kind of slang. Because of that, what they mean, exactly, is very dependent on the social circle they exist in.
When my friends use emojis, I know what they mean because I know them and the in-group slang we use. When a stranger or acquaintance uses emojis, the only way to know what they're trying to say is through context clues, like with any other unfamiliar slang.
So if someone I don't know well is using emojis, I just ignore the ones whose meaning aren't obvious given the context. If I think they're trying to say something important, I'll ask outright what they meant (and then get an understanding of how they use emojis and so are better able to understand them in the future.)
However I really struggle with emojis as a general concept. I don't understand a lot of them, and it seems people put a lot of hidden meaning into them that I have to interpret, and I feel the cognitive load is a lot bigger than if people would just type out what the fuck they are trying to say.