You may want to give a “thumbs up” to this article, then again, you may not.
Apparently, Generation Z is having a problem with the “thumbs up” emoji and they want it gone.
Several months ago, a Reddit user asked if anyone felt “unsettled” by the use of the thumbs-up emoji, sharing an example of workplace messaging conversations.
“Most people at work use the ‘thumbs up’ reaction all the time,” the person wrote. “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 to ‘thumbs up’ messages, but I still feel like it’s such an unsettling response. Does anyone else feel this way?”
The original Reddit post titled, “Am I not adult enough to be comfortable with the ‘thumbs up’ emoji reaction?” got a surprising amount of replies from both ends of the discussion.
“The general consensus I see with all my friends and all over the internet is that it’s way rude. Definitely had to reprogram my gut reaction to seeing the thumbs up react or reply from coworkers,” one user wrote.
Another user had the opposite reaction, “I love it because it means many many things. It means ‘I approve’ or ‘I understood and will obey’ or ‘I agree.’ If anything, my only objection would be that some days it might be hard to tell which one it means. But it is generally pretty clear.”
But most agreed with the original post and doubled down that the thumbs-up emoji can feel indirectly aggressive, particularly in a workplace setting.
“It’s not that odd to see it as passive-aggressive. Just imagine how would it feel to go into your boss’ room, say something, and then see him turn to you, look you in the eye, and go ‘????’,” one user replied.
That was backed up by another person, “I understand what you mean, my last workplace had a WhatsApp chat for our team to send info to each other on and most of the people on there just replied with a ???? I don’t know why but it seemed a little bit hostile to me, like an acknowledgment but kind of saying ‘I don’t really care/am not interested?’”
The Daily Mail wrote this tweet on Oct. 12, “Why NOBODY should be using the ‘thumbs up’ emoji in 2022” with a link to their story on the matter.
Idiots trying to cancel the thumbs up emoji. No, for real – they are.
???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? pic.twitter.com/XbtkYKlrVU— Anonymous (@YourAnonNews) October 13, 2022
