Generation Z has made the case that using the 😂 emoji means you’re, well, old.
What’s going on?
OK, so, according to CNN, Gen Z has deemed the 😂 emoji as “uncool” — along with skinny jeans and side parts, according to Romper — as another attack on the millennial age group.
- The 😂 emoji is a popular tool to describe laughing.
However, the emoji is now deemed a little too old school for people of a younger generation.
- Walid Mohammed, 21, told CNN Business: “I use everything but the laughing emoji,” “I stopped using it a while back because I saw older people using it, like my mom, my older siblings and just older people in general.”
So what should you use if you wanna seem cool?
Per CNN, these are three options that have replaced the 😂 emoji:
- 💀— This emoji means you’re dead from laughing so much. It’s along the same line as saying “I’m dying” from laughing.
- 😭— This is similar to the 😂 emoji but apparently more cool?
- And you can also just use “lol” if you want.
‘OK, boomer’ revisited
So this whole episode is similar to the “OK, boomer” fiasco from fall 2019. At the time, Gen Z embraced the phrase called “OK, Boomer” to describe people — millennials, Generation Xers and baby boomers — who all acted a little ... old. However, as I wrote for the Deseret News, baby boomers said they weren’t a fan of the phrase.
- “I utterly loathe stereotyping,” said Dr. Jaime Friedman, 73, of Seattle at the time. “I don’t know any baby boomers who call themselves baby boomers.”
- “I resist any and all forms of stereotyping because I know where it leads and how much pain it causes.”
The “OK, Boomer” phrase surely caught on after it first went viral. So will the same happen with the emoji changes? We’ll have to wait and see.