It seems to be highly dependant on culture, context and age. I feel like my generation (millennial) uses emoji the least, as we grew up with digital communication but without emoji. I basically use emoji in a similar way to you - sparingly and rarely more than 1 in a message. Younger and older generations both started using digital means of communication when emoji were already established though, and they tend to use them way more in my experience.

In regards to "wrong" interpretation of emoji, they can also have different established meanings for different cultures. 😪 for example is sometimes used to represent having a cold in the west, but in Asia it represents being sleepy (which is its intended meaning). Or 😉, which is considered suggestive/flirty in anglophone countries, but is used for making a lighthearted joke in Germany.