Do you still use emoji frequently? If yes, then folks there is a piece of bad news for you all as emoji is no longer cool. In recent weeks, two internet-savvy generations have been clashing in videos and comments on TikTok over the use of emoji culture that is now deemed uncool by Gen Z.
In the TikTok comment section one user asked a question as to what was wrong with the laughing emoji, to which another person replied that it has faded off. In another video, a woman can be seen saying that she had stopped using emoji’s once she came to know that kids do not like to use them anymore.
In another comment a 15-year-old said that they are not going to use emoji any longer, hence others can keep using it.
Twenty-one-year-old Walid Mohammed told CNN Business that he used to use all emoji but has stopped using it a while back because he saw that all older people have started using it, like his mom, his older siblings, and just all older people in general.”
For many Gen Z-ers, the smiling emoji has become a popular replacement for conveying laughter. It represents the visual version of the slang phrase, I am dead or I am dying which signifies something very funny. There are some other examples of emoji’s such as the emoji which has tears coming from eyes while laughing. This is officially called “Loudly Crying Face or just writing “lol” which means laughing out loud.
Seventeen-year-old Xavier Martin called the emoji which has tears coming from his eyes as “bland” and said “not too many people” of his age use it. On the other hand, Stacy Thiru, who is Twenty years of age said that she loves the real crying emoji because it shows a real type of emotion. She also said nowadays she could not even find the laughing crying emoji on her iPhone’s keyboard.
A similar emoji, called “Rolling on the Floor Laughing”, there is no more craze for it. When asked about that emoji over a video call, Thiru visibly frown and said that she does not like it anymore and also said that even her mom does not use it any longer.
The laughing crying emoji whose official name is “Face with Tears of Joy is currently the most-used emoji on the website named Emojitracker that shows real-time emoji used on Twitter. It topped Emojipedia’s list for the most often used emoji’s on Twitter in 2020, while the “Loudly Crying Face” took the number two spot. In the year 2017, Apple Company said that the laughing crying emoji was the most popular in the United States.
Gretchen McCulloch, an internet linguist and author of “Because the Internet” said that “Tears of Joy was a victim of its success,” As per her, If you keep using digital laughter for years and years in the same way, it starts to that it is just for the namesake and not the real feeling in it. That’s why Gen Zers may be looking for a fresh and novel way to show their emotions.
Gen Zers who were born after 1996 — grew up at a time when the internet had already spread everywhere and they had easy access to it. Some people, remember a time before the whole world was submerged by constant internet, many were still using emoji’s and internet jargon, not through texting or social networks but AOL Instant Messenger.
Jeremy Burge, the chief emoji officer of Emojipedia, said to emoji dictionary website that it is often seen that the older generations tend to use the same emoji’s while the younger generation gets more creative, Emojipedia recently wrote on their blog which read: “It’s common wisdom on TikTok that the laughing crying emoji is for boomers.”
Gen Zers told CNN Business in an interview that they always like to assign their meanings to specific emoji which in turn then spreads to other parts of the world. This usually happens through social media. A perfect example of this is that an emoji of a person wearing a cowboy hat and the one of a person simply standing have both come to signify awkwardness. Other people will rope in a bunch of positive emoji such as stars, rainbows and then pair the same with something negative. “Our generation has become sarcastic nowadays,” Martin also said that the current generation has a very good sense of humor. They somehow find ways to come up with funny emoji’s.
Sometimes teens in their twenties- often use emoji — like the laughing crying one but the irony is that they send six or seven of them in a row to friends to exaggerate it. But overall that emoji has also become a no-go.
Mohammed said that for Gen Z it is nothing special feeling, it’s the same as having another Android
Some other outdated emoji’s
There are a few other outdated emoji’s that are not in much use by millennials include,
Rolling on the floor laughing
There used to be a time when this emoji exceptionally popular among all the people from different generations to show the extreme level of laughter or thrill. But as they say “Everything is replaceable” so is the case with this emoji. It used to be amazingly popular a few years back but now the younger generation has replaced it with other emoji’s such as ” loudly crying face” which generally denotes to laugher, and “I’m dead ” or “I’m dying” emoji which looks like the face of a skeleton, it legit feels like an amazing choice to go for my millennial generation.
The person wearing a cowboy hat
According to research conducted by CNN, this emoji is slightly found “awkward” by youth hence, it’s not in much use by a large portion of the young generation.
By the passing time and enhancements in mentality, lifestyle and upbringing etc. the new generation is becoming more and more expressive and wants to leave no chance of not being enough expressive. In this situation, timely changes in preferences of emoji’s is nothing to be taken seriously.
Some emoji’s have been termed as outdated by millennials and chances of a few other emoji’s being outdated in near future are quite evident. Well, nothing to be shocked about. Changes are laws are nature, so, let the preferences change. Ultimately it’s an ongoing process, let them choose, let them prioritize their preferences. Some other new emoji’s will be discovered in the future which will become the personal favourite of youth.
