Gen Z want people to stop using ‘passive aggressive and sinister’ smiley emoji

Harry Warner

First the thumbs up, now the smiley face

Young people have been urging everyone to stop using the ‘smiley’ emoji as because it’s too “passive aggressive”.

This latest allegedly passive aggressive symbol comes after Gen Zs started taking issue with the ‘thumbs up’ emoji over the summer.

A Reddit user took to the platform to ask fellow millennials and Gen Zs were also getting wound up by the ‘thumbs up’ emoji, and got a hugely mixed response.

One person commented: “If you feel comfortable using a heart emoji, I am so confused by why you hesitate using the thumbs up. I used the thumbs up (in my mind ‘I agree” or ‘ok’) way before I used the heart (‘love it’ or ‘feeling the feels’). But that’s just me.”

But a 24-year-old user labelled the emoji “super rude” while pointing out the generational shift in how we communicate.

They wrote: “For younger people (I’m 24 for reference) the thumbs up emoji is used to be really passive aggressive. It’s super rude if someone just sends you a thumbs up. So I also had a weird time adjusting because my workplace is the same.”

However, now it is the innocent smiley face which is being targeted.

A 21-year-old intern, Hafeezat Bishi, told the The Wall Street Journal that, for her, the smile represents a “side-eye smile” and that is appears “dismissive”

“I had to remember [my colleagues] are older, because I use it sarcastically,” she said.

Ellie York, 23, says that “there is definitely a more sinister passive-aggressive or sarcastic side” to the face.

“I think it’s the eyes. It’s got an ‘oh really’ expression.

“People my age who use emojis tend to use this in conversations with each other, not as a happy response, but in a more sarcastic or ironic sense.”’

However, not everyone agrees, as one person told the Independent: “I don’t really see how it is passive-aggressive, I think there’s plenty of other emojis that are better suited for this, such as the raised eyebrow emoji.

“It actually shocked me to hear that it was seen in such a way.”

So next time you’re thinking about popping that smiley face at the end of your message, maybe think twice and just leave it out.

Unless you are trying to be passive aggressive, in which case whack about five on the end.