To some extent I get what you’re saying, people do need to evolve and things change but also while we have humans with jobs I also feel like they should be comfortable. Some of the things that you’re listing as failings feel perfectly reasonable to me. Like having water or having a comfortable place to sleep if you need to be on location for a job. We’re all going to have to evolve and see what work looks like as things change but that’s not a reason in my opinion to price ourselves into unsustainable conditions or pay. Once that’s the case then we clearly need some other way to make things work or unionize to protect each other.

I think you nailed the style!

It depends on context and company but in general I would avoid them the more professional the context. I work as a programmer for a pretty big company. I sometimes use them in chats to coworkers particularly if it’s just a regular conversation. We use teams and use the reaction emojis. But I avoid them in serious emails or conversations.

So I wouldn’t say they’re never to be used but in general they’re more casual. This obviously depends on company culture though. If you’re in a more casual setting or if others use them more freely then it’s probably more acceptable.