Buckle up — cancel culture has officially come for emojis. Gen Zers are calling out the popular thumbs-up emoji for being “rude” and “hostile,” even saying they feel attacked whenever they see it used in the workplace.
After a Reddit poster confessed to being “not adult enough to be comfortable with the thumbs-up emoji reaction,” others chimed in to agree and to call out other common emojis such as the red heart.
“For younger people, the thumbs-up emoji is used to be really passive-aggressive,” a 24-year-old Redditor wrote. “It’s super rude if someone just sends you a thumbs up,” they added. “So I also had a weird time adjusting because my workplace is the same.”
The official list of “canceled” emoji includes:
- Thumbs-up 👍
- Red heart ❤️
- “OK” hand 👌
- Checkmark ✅
- Poo 💩
- Loud crying face 😭
- Monkey covering eyes 🙈
- Clapping hands 👏
- Lipstick kiss mark 💋
- Grimacing face 😬
Older workers appeared flummoxed by the reaction, noting they use the thumbs up in work-related chats to signal “I approve” or “I understood and will obey.” Part of the issue is that young people tend to use the thumbs up in jest.
“I only use it sarcastically, though sometimes I’m not even sure if the irony comes across,” Barry Kennedy, 24, told The Post. He said he only used it to communicate with boomers like his parents or older colleagues. One anonymous office worker chalked it up to a “generational communication culture difference.”
The anonymous office worker chalked it up to a “generational communication culture difference.” “Everyone my age in the office doesn’t do it, but the Gen X people always do it,” they wrote. “Took me a bit to adjust and get out of my head that it means they’re mad at me.”
The poster explained a thumbs-up “is usually a response if the other person is being rude or annoying or stupid.” Several Reddit users agreed with the decision to cancel the emoji, saying that using it in a work environment makes the team members “unaccommodating” and seem “unfriendly.”
“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 [thumbs-up emoji],” one commenter said.
“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’? Don’t know if that’s the way you feel but I got used to it in time and I’m just as bad for sending a thumbs up now.”
“It’s not that odd to see it as passive-aggressive,” another chimed in. “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 [give a thumbs-up].” Other generations seemed confused by emoji etiquette. “So it’s like a sarcastic thing? Man I’m getting old lol,” one wrote. “What the kids do, is not what everyone else adopts. It’s not passive-aggressive at all that I’ve seen, it seems to be a younger generational thing,” added another.”
Business consultant Sue Ellson told the Daily Mail that it could take time for the older generation to fall in line. She explained that words are always better than symbols in a professional environment, and the LinkedIn expert can see how people would become disillusioned with just an icon. “Predictive systems can type a word like ‘Thanks’ in two clicks after a while,” said Ellson. “It feels like people are ‘too lazy’ to type a written response and it doesn’t provide clarity as to next steps.”
