SOON Posted February 16, 2021 Posted February 16, 2021 Sorry, millennials. The emoji isn't cool anymore By Kaya Yurieff, CNN Business Updated 9:36 AM ET, Mon February 15, 2021 New York (CNN Business) — Bad news for people who frequently use the emoji: It is no longer cool. In recent weeks, two internet-savvy generations have been clashing in videos and comments on TikTok over the hallmarks of millennial culture that are now deemed uncool by Gen Z. The list includes skinny jeans (Gen Z verdict: set them on fire), side parts (Gen Z verdict: middle part or bust) and perhaps most painful of all, the popular laughing crying emoji that some millennials, myself included, use hundreds of times a day, or more. "What's wrong with the laughing emoji[?]," one user asked in a TikTok comment. Another responded: "it's so off." On a different video of a woman saying she's cut back on using it after learning kids don't, one teen commented: "As a 15 year old I say you should use that emoji bc [because] we sure aren't going to." "I use everything but the laughing emoji," 21-year-old Walid Mohammed told CNN Business. "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." For many Gen Z-ers, the emoji has become a popular replacement for conveying laughter. It's the visual version of the slang phrase "I'm dead" or "I'm dying," which signifies something is very funny. Other acceptable alternatives: the emoji (officially called "Loudly Crying Face"), or just writing "lol" (laughing out loud) or "lmao" (laughing my, well, you probably know the rest). Seventeen-year-old Xavier Martin called the emoji "bland" and said "not too many people" his age use it. Stacy Thiru, 21, prefers the real crying emoji because it shows a more extreme emotion and feels more dramatic. She said she couldn't even find the laughing crying emoji on her iPhone's keyboard. A similar emoji, called "Rolling on the Floor Laughing" (), is also no longer in vogue. When asked about that emoji over a video call, Thiru visibly grimaced. "I don't like that one," she said. "My mom doesn't even use it." "Face with Tears of Joy," the official name for the laughing crying emoji, is currently the most-used emoji on Emojitracker, a website that shows real-time emoji use on Twitter. It topped Emojipedia's list of the most-used emojis on Twitter in 2020, while the "Loudly Crying Face" took the number two spot. And it's had staying power: In 2017, Apple said the laughing crying emoji was the most popular in the United States. "Tears of Joy was a victim of its own success," said Gretchen McCulloch, an internet linguist and author of "Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language." "If you indicate digital laughter for years and years in the same way, it starts to feel insincere. ... The hyperbole gets worn out through continued use," she said. That's why Gen Zers may be looking to fresh and novel ways to signal they're laughing through different ways. Gen Zers -- born after 1996 -- grew up at a time when the internet was already ubiquitous and often in the palm of their hands. Some millennials, by comparison, remember a time before constant internet immersion; many launched into the world of emojis and internet jargon not through texting or social networks, but through AOL Instant Messenger. (Millennials were born between 1981 and 1996, according to Pew Research Center). Anecdotally, older generations tend to use emojis literally while younger people get more creative, said Jeremy Burge, the chief emoji officer of Emojipedia, an emoji dictionary website. Emojipedia recently wrote a blog post that said: "It's common wisdom on TikTok that the laughing crying emoji is for boomers." Gen Zers told CNN Business they like to assign their own meanings to emoji, which then spreads to others in their cohort, often through social media. For example, the emoji of a person wearing a cowboy hat () and the one of a person simply standing have both come to signify awkwardness. Others will string together a bunch of positive emoji, like stars, rainbows and fairies, and then pair them with something negative. "Our generation is very sarcastic," Martin said. Sometimes teens and twenty-somethings use emoji -- like the laughing crying one -- ironically, such as by sending six or seven of them in a row to friends, to exaggerate it. But, overall, that emoji is a no-go. "For Gen Z, it's like the same thing as having an Android," said Mohammed. Quote
karbatal Posted February 16, 2021 Posted February 16, 2021 10 years ago it was millennials vs boomers. Now it's Gen Z vs all.. Journalism at its worst looking for cheap engagement and viral stupidity Quote
Apples388 Posted February 16, 2021 Posted February 16, 2021 Well I love it so whatever... as M once said .. it's so cool to be UNCOOL Quote
Martin B. Posted February 16, 2021 Posted February 16, 2021 When Buzzfeed and social media don't know how to get attention, they generate bogus generational bickering that no one else cares about. I'm still in awe of how the GenX is always forgotten in these ridiculous generation Wars. It's as if we never existed. Quote
karbatal Posted February 16, 2021 Posted February 16, 2021 Generation Z plays its own drum. They won't even notice these articles because they are in another dimension. I really admire A LOT Gen Z Quote
karbatal Posted February 16, 2021 Posted February 16, 2021 1 hour ago, Martin B. said: When Buzzfeed and social media don't know how to get attention, they generate bogus generational bickering that no one else cares about. I'm still in awe of how the GenX is always forgotten in these ridiculous generation Wars. It's as if we never existed. No. This is because WE have been the ones writing the articles this past decade Quote
Cyber-Raga Posted February 16, 2021 Posted February 16, 2021 All power to them. I’m a millennial I approve Quote
FreeMySoul Posted February 16, 2021 Posted February 16, 2021 What emoji replaces the laugh/cry emoji? Quote
Nikki Posted February 16, 2021 Posted February 16, 2021 1 hour ago, FreeMySoul said: What emoji replaces the laugh/cry emoji? i prefer these Quote
Nick Posted February 16, 2021 Posted February 16, 2021 9 hours ago, Martin B. said: When Buzzfeed and social media don't know how to get attention, they generate bogus generational bickering that no one else cares about. I'm still in awe of how the GenX is always forgotten in these ridiculous generation Wars. It's as if we never existed. I'm Gen X, so I always wanted to see boomers and millennial eventually destroy each other and leave the rest of us alone. Some journalists have even written articles about how Boomers and Millennials generations are both more alike than they like to admit. Quote
Nightshade Posted February 17, 2021 Posted February 17, 2021 We have a pandemic raging across the planet. A major world democracy [U.S.] almost slipped into a dictatorship overnight. And the use of emojis warrants a full article? Quote
stevenflowers Posted February 17, 2021 Posted February 17, 2021 I could do without laugh-cry emoji but don't take me skinny jeans away!!! Quote
Rock Posted February 17, 2021 Posted February 17, 2021 Gen Zers don't even laugh like normal humans do. When they hear something funny, they just say "Lol". Literally. What a sad generation. Quote
Crux Posted February 17, 2021 Posted February 17, 2021 "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" Pathetic. Quote
LSD Posted February 17, 2021 Posted February 17, 2021 On 2/15/2021 at 9:28 PM, Junior said: For many Gen Z-ers, the emoji has become a popular replacement for conveying laughter. Laughing while eating Tide Pods and then dying. Quote
ULIZOS Posted February 17, 2021 Posted February 17, 2021 Young people are stupid with their shit taste in music Quote
karbatal Posted February 17, 2021 Posted February 17, 2021 Are people here taking the bait and commenting that INVENTED article? Do you guys really think anybody being 18yo giving any damn about emojis? Quote
funkydita Posted February 17, 2021 Posted February 17, 2021 19 hours ago, Nick said: I'm Gen X, so I always wanted to see boomers and millennial eventually destroy each other and leave the rest of us alone. Some journalists have even written articles about how Boomers and Millennials generations are both more alike than they like to admit. Quote
Nick Posted February 18, 2021 Posted February 18, 2021 7 hours ago, funkydita said: Haha I like this. The thing is that soon enough social media will make Gen X the evil ones. You already see this.. People will always rebel against previous generations. Quote
Bitch I'm Christian Posted February 20, 2021 Posted February 20, 2021 I work with some Gen Z young ladies and realised they do all have their hair parted down the middle. Quote
IsaacHarris Posted February 20, 2021 Posted February 20, 2021 I wish I could use this guy: all the time! Quote
ULIZOS Posted February 21, 2021 Posted February 21, 2021 11 hours ago, IsaacHarris said: I wish I could use this guy: all the time! Forum emojis are the BEST Quote
karbatal Posted February 21, 2021 Posted February 21, 2021 13 hours ago, IsaacHarris said: I wish I could use this guy: all the time! And this one Quote
acko Posted February 23, 2021 Posted February 23, 2021 On 2/21/2021 at 10:40 AM, ULIZOS said: Forum emojis are the BEST I love the old dot music ones.. Quote
ULIZOS Posted February 23, 2021 Posted February 23, 2021 14 hours ago, acko said: I love the old dot music ones.. that makes us sound ancient Quote
acko Posted February 23, 2021 Posted February 23, 2021 8 minutes ago, ULIZOS said: that makes us sound ancient I was gonna post the lady with the long hair... But it no longer exists Quote
Barbie Posted February 23, 2021 Posted February 23, 2021 The same generation that made 6ix9ine a star. Yeah, anyway. Quote
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