Study reveals the 10 emojis that make you “officially old”

Charlie Herbert

Some of you are about to feel personally attacked

A study has revealed the 10 emojis that make you ‘officially old’ if you use them.

It comes after some young people have urged everyone to stop using the ‘thumbs up’ emoji because it is too ‘passive aggressive.’

A Reddit user took to the platform to ask fellow millennials and Gen Zs whether they were also getting wound up by the ‘thumbs up’ emoji.

They wrote: “I started an ‘adult’ job where we use Microsoft Teams to connect with each other for work.

“Currently, there only a few emojis you can use to react to a message (unless of course, you respond, and can use any emoji). Most people at work use the ‘thumbs up’ reaction all the time.

“I don’t use it much. I either ‘heart’ reactions or reply even if it’s a short ‘Great!’ or ‘Thanks!’ (I also feel like I use too many exclamation marks, but that’s a different story).

“Anyway, I think it’s normal for to ‘thumbs up’ messages, but I still feel like it’s such an unsettling response. Does anyone else feel this way?”

And they were meant with a deluge of replies – some in agreement, others not so much.

One person commented “if you feel comfortable using a heart emoji, I am so confused by why you hesitate using the thumbs up”, with another saying “it’s just a thumbs up, don’t search so deep.”

But one 24-year-old said it was “really passive aggressive” and “super rude,” with several in agreement on Twitter.

https://twitter.com/DrifterShoots/status/1580266380251004929?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1580266380251004929%7Ctwgr%5Eaafd2a58bc58afe79587c2a17b66e0ff0d6fb99e%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.joe.co.uk%2Flife%2Fyoung-people-uncomfortable-thumbs-up-emoji-363194

everyone making fun of gen z for saying the thumbs up emoji is passive aggressive meanwhile i only use the thumbs up emoji when i'm being passive aggressive lmaaao

— Linda™ (@Lindellions) October 12, 2022

Well, it turns out it’s not just the thumbs up emoji us youngsters want to get rid of – a survey of 2,000 people by Perspectus Global showed there were 10 emojis those aged 16 to 29 believed made you ‘officially old’ if you use them.

The list is as follows:

Thumbs up
Red heart
“OK” hand gesture
Checkmark
Poo
Crying face
Monkey covering eyes
Clapping hands
Lipstick kiss mark
Grimacing face

So, maybe just have a second think about that emoji you’re popping at the end of a text. Not only could it rub the millenial in your life up the wrong way, it could also really show your age.

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