Honest question about skin-tone emojis and identify politics in general

I’ve noticed more people using the skin-tone thumbs up instead of the default yellow. I’ve always just used the yellow one because, to me it looks like a generic cartoon hand not a real skin color. I never thought of it as white skin color.

For those of you who do pick a specific skin tone, what’s your thinking behind that? Is it about representation, habit, something else? Do you see it as important or just a small personal preference?

Similarly how do y’all think about putting identity front and center (race, sexuality, etc.)? I’m more of a private person and don’t usually talk much about my personal sex life, but some people clearly feel it’s important to say their sexual orientation as part of how they show up.

I hope this doesn’t come across as a micro-aggression…

What say you?