[dwighttk]

A long time ago I decided I’d not use emoji, just smilies, but that went away once I got a smartphone and the emoji keyboard was right there

[junon]

For me, it was when I moved from the US to Germany. Germans do not use "haha" and the like, but instead emojis. A gratuitous amount.

Either you use them or don't, but you have to realize how you come off to the other person (though admittedly this is less of a problem in Germany to begin with - being direkt and monotone is a virtue here sometimes).