- Reporter: Malak Tamer
- Editor: Madalina Glica
With the passing of the Met Gala on May 5, English actor Louis Patridge became a viral meme online with everyone using the outfit he wore as comedic and relatable content. Memes targeted how messy and incoherent the outfit looked, relating it to how messy a person’s everyday style could be.
With an increased use of memes, emojis and Graphics Interchange Formats (GIFs), Gen Z took the saying “a picture is worth a thousand words” literally, creatively adapting digital tools for visual expression as a new form of communication and social advocacy.
Gen Z are often referred to as digital natives, meaning they were born in the digital age of technology and became familiar with the internet and social media from a young age. As a result, they relied heavily on these platforms to communicate.
However, as social media became more fast paced, users’ attention spans began deteriorating, making them more likely to switch from written text to visual tools.
In episode 225 of the psychology podcast Speaking of Psychology, psychology professor Gloria Mark reported that humans’ average attention spans are two minutes and a half in a study she conducted in 2004.
However, attention spans have deteriorated since, going down to an average of 47 seconds in the past five to six years, according to Mark.
Mark explains how this leads to less concentration skills online and slower performance.
“So we incur ‘switch costs’ throughout the day as we’re switching our attention creates more effort. It uses more of our very precious mental resources on top of the work that we actually need to do,” Mark said.
As people exert more mental effort online over the years as Mark explained, processing information and concentrating pose a challenge.
Medium explained in an article in 2017 that humans can process images at a fast speed because a large portion of the brain is focused on visual processing, allowing it to recognize familiar objects in just 100 milliseconds.
As a result, Gen Z transitioned into using emojis and GIFs to describe their emotions and moods.
Graphic Designer and Adjunct Professor of Visual Communications Dina Shaaban explained the transition from written text to visual expressions on social media, “Most people don’t like to read, and now with the quick lifestyle that most of us lead, people don’t have the time or the patience to read, so it is very effective to use these visual aids in raising awareness because it is more likely to reach people, especially if we have high illiteracy.”
Nour Bassiouny, a 24 year-old Instagram and TikTok influencer with almost 200 thousand followers, elaborated on Shaaban’s point by highlighting that social media rewards short-paced communication and wit, which emojis and memes help her achieve.
Bassiouny believes that emojis, GIFs and memes can visually represent hidden aspects of her mood to those who can’t see her in person, in ways that words can’t.
“Emojis and memes help me communicate more effectively, bridging the gap between face-to-face interactions and digital communication,” said Bassiouny.
“If I post a paragraph detailing how I’m feeling, none of my followers are going to read all that on- line. I must choose an effective emoji that represents exactly how I’m feeling so people can understand what I want to say without me actually using any words.”
Visual communication tools help people mentally picture what the emotion of the person online is and what their mental state looks like.
“Sometimes I don’t have the words to express my mental state, whether I am severely depressed or extremely happy, so I resort to emojis and stickers to reflect how I feel,” Bassiouny said.
Shaaban emphasized that visual communication is an easier form of expression for those who do not have the skills to put what they are experiencing into words.
Emojis and GIFs depend a lot on context since there are rarely any words to communicate what the visual element is representing; thus, enhancing Gen Z’s creativity and emotional intelligence.
With the wide generalizability of visually-layered communication tools present, Gen Z are able to pick and choose which meaning they want to apply to certain visuals, leaving them with an infinite number of opportunities..
For instance, the widely popular GIF of gamer Drew Scanlon blinking repeatedly blew up on social media in 2013, and it is still used by Gen Z toda because of how easily people could add their own meaning and context to it, using it to express emotions ranging from speechlessness and surprise to disbelief, or even as a sarcastic comeback.
This goes to show how visual communication tools lack the problems of translation that texts and written posts face. Pictures and emojis can be understood by different countries and different societies because the visual elements act as symbols of the words and emotions.
Bassiouny explained how she utilizes visual communication to ensure she is understood by all her followers, “I feel that posting a widely used emoji or GIF is my safest option since I don’t have to factor in cultural, educational, or economic factors. I communicate in a way that my followers can relate to me through and connect with me.”
Everyday Speech, a social learning platform developed by speech-language pathologists and psychologists, detailed in a blog how emojis provide a universal language that transcends cultural and language barriers, making digital interactions more inclusive and accessible.
While visual communication tools, specifically emojis, are relatable to most and could be generalized to a wide range of emotions, they could have different interpretations across cultures.
Shaaban clarified that emojis and GIFs could be interpreted differently across cultures to a certain extent based on cultures’ traditions, beliefs, and values.
The BBC reported in an article that linguistics professor Vyvyan Evans ex- plained that while emojis are beneficial because they provide emotional con- text and tone that texting didn’t have, they are not a universal language due to some different interpretations by cultures.
For example, the angel emoji in China represents death and can be perceived as threatening, while it represents innocence or performing a good deed in the West, according to the BBC.
Gen Z also uses these visual tools to express social commentary and personal beliefs, not just emotions. Users often create GIFs and stickers using characters from their favorite TV shows, expressing their interest.
Additionally, adding aspects that reflect a person’s religion or birthplace onto a customized GIF can be a form of expressing their identity and personal beliefs.
Gen Z uses emojis, GIFs, and memes for expressing more than just their personalities and emotions. These new communication tools could be used to advocate for political causes and communicate mental health issues.
The Black Lives Matter Movement of 2013 was highly endorsed by visual tools and went viral again in 2020 due to the picture of a black fist everyone shared on social media and on the internet.
The picture of just the black fist was a visual communication tool that replaced people’s written support of the movement and represented unity and understanding between individuals.
In some cases, like The Black Lives Matter Movement, visual communication tools play the primary role in expression and barely any words are used.
Visual communication techniques, such as emojis and stickers, can also help users navigate complex mental health conversations.
“In some cases, the situation or the topic might be taboo or intimidating, so they prefer to reflect the ideas through visuals rather than words,” Shaaban said.
According to a journal article published in the National Library of Medicine in 2024, emojis’ visual elements help de-escalate conflicts and help emotion regulation and self-awareness. However, they also report that there can be a downside of saying less to express more.
The National Library of Medicine explained that emojis could contribute to the inaccurate representation and prediction of mental health states and issues. Additionally, the implementation of emojis could pose a challenge for individuals who have autism spectrum disorder, social cognition deficits, or visual impairments, questioning emojis’ accessibility.
As the usage of visual communication tools grows amongst Gen Z, other generations started adapting to this new form of communication by learning the general meanings of emojis, GIFs, and memes, and learning how to create them themselves and analyze them.
Website Bloggers explained in an article on their website that Gen X have adapted to the popularity of memes by analyzing them online, replying in the comments with their unique perspectives, and creating funny captions to engage with the memes in a way that feels authentic to them.
The article goes on to explain that Gen X prioritizes punchlines and timings that serve as a commentary for the real world using sarcasm and wit.
Nevertheless, they still face some confusion with the new slang that comes hand-in-hand with new memes, making it a challenge for some to keep up with the new advancements in visual communication.
“New visual tools are very easy as they are made to suit most cultures and to be grasped easily, that is the whole point. So older generations may struggle at the beginning but they can acquire it easily in my opinion if they choose to explore and be present on social media platforms,” Shaaban said.
Khadiga Abdelhakim, an AUC Junior, agreed with Shaaban’s point as she reflects on her mom’s experience with new visual communication tools, specifically memes.
“My mom is always coming to me to show her all the latest and trending memes and stickers. She gets so excited when she sends them to her friends on their group chats,” said Abdelhakim.
From shifting communication to a visual medium, Gen Z utilize the digital advantage they have and integrate new tools to express themselves, ad- vocate for political issues, and freely communicate mental health issues.
“Social media challenges me to use my creativity and implement my empathy online. As part of Gen Z, I think we are enriching online communication and adding more layers to it, making it complex and more human,” said Bassiouny.
