Boomers Blamed for Emoji’s Disappearance

Website design By BotEap.comSo have you heard? Supposedly, the laughing and crying emoji has become old-fashioned and using it is a sure sign that you are old.

Website design By BotEap.comStop the presses!

Website design By BotEap.comGen Z, those born after 1997, have apparently declared this to be the case on social media, especially TikTok.

Website design By BotEap.comThis despite the fact that the emoji has been extremely popular since 2017. As a CNN article noted: “‘Face With Tears of Joy,’ the official name for the laughing and crying emoji, is the most used emoji on Emojitracker, a website that shows the use of emoji in real time on Twitter”. In 2020, it was still the most popular emoji.

Website design By BotEap.comSo what happened?

Website design By BotEap.comAre baby boomers to blame?

Website design By BotEap.comOf course, as with everything else, boomers are blamed for its demise. Jeremy Burge, director of emojis at Emojipedia, recently wrote a blog post saying, “It’s common wisdom on TikTok that the laughing and crying emoji is for boomers. And by boomers I mean anyone over the age of 35.”

Website design By BotEap.comGod forbid, teens and young adults don’t want to be seen using the same emoji as their grandparents! But we’re not the only targets, as Burge’s over-35 comment demonstrates.

Website design By BotEap.comInterestingly, millennials (those born between 1980 and 1996), many of whom are trying to keep their cool as they approach their 30s and 40s, also appear to be the target this time around. Add in the overuse of this suddenly obnoxious emoji by millennials, calling their dog “doggo” (I didn’t even realize this was a thing), skinny jeans, and even the side parts are out too, and a sign of that you are old and “out of touch”.

Website design By BotEap.comAs one millennial writer put it in an article for Yahoo! Sports: “As a lifelong partner, ouch.”

Website design By BotEap.comAccording to that article, Gen Z also makes fun of the way millennials use the word “adulting,” their addiction to avocado toast and Starbucks coffee, and the way they refer to themselves as “90s kids.” “.

Website design By BotEap.comIt’s karma friends

Website design By BotEap.comThe funny thing about all this is that some millennials have been making fun of us boomers for years.

Website design By BotEap.comRemember the popular phrase, “OK Boomer” that started making the rounds a couple of years ago? As I blogged on this topic, the term seemed to imply that boomers are old-fashioned, resistant to change, tech-behind, and out of touch.

Website design By BotEap.comSo I guess what goes around comes around.

Website design By BotEap.comHowever, I hate to see someone using insulting and derogatory slogans based solely on what generation people were born into, which is completely out of our control, by the way. One day, Generation Z will grow old and no doubt get a taste of their own medicine. Everybody gets old eventually, you know.

Website design By BotEap.comMyself, I’m tired of the way all social platforms have made it too easy to insult each other. I’m tired of age discrimination. I wish mutual respect could replace this pointless teasing of each other. Why can’t the “generation gap” become old-fashioned and old-fashioned?

Website design By BotEap.comAll that said, don’t take this to heart, millennials. One day, you’ll reach our age and you won’t care so much what other people think.

Website design By BotEap.comAfter a recent viral TikTok listed all the things millennials do that Gen Z doesn’t approve of, millennials responded by defending their fashion choices, hairstyles, and use of emoji. They pointed out that Generation Z was once encouraged to eat Tide Pods as a viral challenge and that younger people lack the ability to write in cursive. Therefore, there! But does all this really matter?

Website design By BotEap.comCalm down millennials, you will reach the age where you won’t care what others think about your emoji clothing and you won’t feel this need to defend your choices.

Website design By BotEap.comIn fact, I think this boomer will use the laughing and crying emoji even more just to be rebellious. And my side part stays too. And while I’m not a millennial, I do enjoy some avocado toast from time to time.

Website design By BotEap.comThat’s the great thing about getting older, as I wrote when I turned 60. I know what matters, and emoji overuse is not one of them! They make fun of us, but being an older adult is liberating in that sense.

Website design By BotEap.comDon’t worry, millennials. you will get there