I use passive-aggressive emojis ✍️
I like to use emojis. They can add a bit of life to an otherwise plain text. I use them in the WhatsApp chats with friends and family, my messages on Mastodon, in chats with wo-workers. and my weekly notes. I like how the status log of social.lol puts an emoji at the beginning of each update. Emojis serve a purpose as it's quicker to identify an object than reading a text.
I already knew that emojis had a double meaning, sometimes used in a sexual context. But only recently, when watching the TV show Adolescence I learned they could have a much deeper meaning. My knowledge broadened during a quiz while away with the family, where one of the cousins gave us a teaching on the meaning of some emojis. For example, 💀 doesn't mean dead or danger, but rather "I'm laughing so hard I'm dead.". Or 🥶 not to show it's cold, but you're without emotion.
That's all fine I said, but today, however, I learned through an article of our newspaper, that the emojis I use quite often, like the 🙂 the 👍, can actually be considered passive-aggressive by the younger generation.
Who know that such a simple image could evolve into something much more?
Currently, worrying about the emoji language is not (yet) an issue. Most of my conversations are with friends of my own generation or in a family group chat where only a few Gen Z's are participating.
But I can imagine that this will shift once more of our younger Alpha generation, like my children, join our chats. What seems warm and obvious may not land the same way with them.
Still, I enjoy my emojis.
For now, I'll keep using them as I did before, in a the literal in cheerful way.
So if you see me use 🙂 or 👍, know they actually mean that I'm happy and give a thumbs up.
Just like I used them in a chat with a colleague today. Although I must admit, for a few seconds I was thinking about the deeper meaning of emojis and those we were using. But I'm sure we both meant it in a literal way 💀.
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