There is this popular saying: “A picture is worth a thousand words”. I’ll add: “to whomever can see it”. Let’s start by saying, I can’t see it.

I understand how people send GIFs and stickers on social media to convey a message. Most times, the picture does a great job in communicating the message. Some expressions aren’t that easy to explain in words, and it’s just easier to send a sticker/picture to do the explanation for you.

But, what if the person at the receiving end is blind? What if the person can’t see the picture? Then the picture is “worthless”. The person could give another person or an AI to describe it, but this defeats the purpose of the picture. In this case, a thousand words is better than a picture.

People send me stickers all the time, and I don’t know how to tell them I can’t see without going off-topic, so I mostly ignore the stickers. I think it could look rude. I’ll keep this blog post within reach and send it when it makes sense.