I read at the weekend that Gen Z find the “thumbs up” emoji rude and obnoxious and now I’m questioning all my message responses. 

I’m not sure where I read this news, or whether the source was verified, blue ticked, fake news, or otherwise, but I’ve run it past my teenagers and apparently it’s true. 

This new thinking stems from the apparently fed-up Generation Z, otherwise known as Gen Z or “Zoomers”.

They’re the ones that sit between Millennials and Generation Alpha on the generation list. 

For those of us who are struggling to keep up with “the list”, these are the humans that were born between 1997 and 2012.

As of 2024, they range in age from 12 to 27. 

What peeves them about the thumbs up emoji apparently is that it’s lazy.

Not only does it fail to answer the question being asked or feedback sought, it could also be sent with underlying sarcasm.

It’s too vague you might say.

The teens I asked (I’ll admit it wasn’t an extensive survey) say when they want a reply, particularly from a parent, they want clear and simple words – not a yellow thumbs up.

If they’ve taken the time to actually type full words (not often) they’re hoping everyone older than 20 can respond with full, helpful words.

It’s like a mini grammar war of sorts.

And, if you believe all the media hype about the topic, some Gen Z’s are referring to the simple thumbs up emoji as being “too passive-aggressive”.

For those a bit lost passive-aggressive behaviour is when you express negative feelings indirectly instead of openly talking about them, like subtle digs, or nasty comments that might make people feel uncomfortable.

Yes, you could say it’s a minefield.

When you’re employed within a workplace that uses Microsoft Outlook for emails, the shortcut emoji responses can be quite limiting.

To every received email uses must choose between a thumbs up, love heart, celebratory party popper, laughing face, surprised face or sad face emoji.

It rather limits your options.

Considering psychologists agree the average human has 27 different states of emotion everyday, finding one that fits within the six suggestions can be tricky.

And, with 121 business-related emails being received each day by the average Australian employee, that’s a whole lot of intergenerational emotional “soup” to digest.

This doubles when we consider the thumbs up emoji sits within our smartphone SMS shortcut response list as well!

So, where do we go from here?

There’s no doubt in my mind that navigating the popular speak of each and every generation is always going to be difficult.

I mean we had to listen to parents that thought the world was “groovy” and we thought we were so cool referring to awesome stuff as “mint”.

Surely we’ll all adapt with respect intact.

Perhaps we just need to smile at each other more, surely that emoji is acceptable? 

For more of this writer’s opinions:

• Newcastle to Perth direct flights – who’s keen?
• Secrets of Lake Mac
• Newcastle embraces Missy Higgins
• That’d be Bonza

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