Tell us what 💀 means to you, and we'll tell you how old you are.
Emojis are now used by people of all ages, adding nuance and emotion to otherwise plain text. However, not every emoji is used in the same manner by each generation.
Millennials initially added playful new interpretations to the Peach 🍑 and the Painted Nails 💅 emojis. Gen Z (born roughly between the late 1990s and early 2010s) have since made even more substantial adjustments to how many emojis are used. Now, as Gen Alpha (those born from the early 2010s onward) grow up and engage more on digital platforms, we can expect further shifts and surprises in how emojis are used. This evolution will see millennials and Gen Z continuing to repurpose emojis to discuss their lived experiences, even as Gen Alpha begins this process anew.
Gen Z vs. Older Generations
Most members of Gen Z have grown up in a world saturated with communication technology, even more so than their “digital native” millennial predecessors. This saturation has given Gen Z an intuitive grasp of social media and messaging apps, as well as the emoji keyboard found within these platforms.
To contrast themselves with millennials and older generations, Gen Z have pioneered new slang terms that have also shaped new ways to use and interpret emojis. In doing so, they often subvert historic meanings and imbue certain emojis with additional subtext and irony that can be misunderstood by those outside their generation.
The Skull Emoji 💀
Traditionally used to symbolize death, danger, or something spooky, the Skull Emoji was previously most popular around Halloween. But today, the Skull Emoji is one of the world’s most popular emojis year-round. Gen Z repurposed it as their go-to symbol to signify laughter, derived from hyperbolic slang terms like “I’m dying laughing” and “I’m dead,” indicating laughter so intense it metaphorically "kills" the recipient. This sits in contrast to the Face With Tears Of Joy 😂 emoji, which remains the go-to symbol for laughter from millennials and older generations despite Gen Z referring to it as “cringe” or “cheugy.”
The Billed Cap Emoji 🧢
Originally a literal representation of baseball caps and trucker caps, the Billed Cap emoji was quickly repurposed by Gen Z to encapsulate the slang term "capping," i.e., lying. In Gen Z lingo, to call something “cap” is to accuse it of being a lie, while stating "no cap" means "no lie" or "truthfully." The emoji is often used to call out dishonesty when used alone or to emphasize sincerity when combined with the 🚫 Prohibited symbol emoji.
The Sparkles Emoji ✨
Originally just a symbol for something sparkling or shining, the sparkles emoji ✨ has been adopted by Gen Z to add emphasis or highlight a word, phrase, or statement by bookending them ✨like this✨. Doing so can make mundane statements seem more exciting or special, often used for a touch of irony or to denote sarcasm. This can be subtle, or it can be overt, especially in combination with ✨CHaOTIC cApiTALiZATIon✨, also known as ✨SpOnGEbOb teXt✨.
The Thumbs Up Emoji 👍
Traditionally understood as a straightforward representation of the popular hand gesture used to indicate agreement, affirmation, or a job well done, the Thumbs Up emoji has acquired an ironic and even passive-aggressive undertone amongst Gen Z. This is due to this emoji being interpreted by Gen Z as a minimal effort response, implying a lack of genuine engagement that can come across as dismissive or uninterested. A similar sentiment has also impacted the Simple Smiling Face Emoji 🙂. Due to its only slightly smiling face compared to other happy emojis, this emoji is often interpreted as being insincere or a low-effort attempt to hide annoyance.
Gen Alpha and Beyond 🚀
As Gen Alpha begin to enter digital spaces, we can anticipate further shifts in emoji usage, similar to how Gen Z contrasted themselves with millennials and older generations. This new generation, just beginning to enter their adolescence, will undoubtedly reinterpret and repurpose emojis to reflect their unique cultural and historical context.
Which emojis do Gen Alpha favor? At this early stage, it’s difficult to tell. At present, with the young age of the generation, they do appear to be adopting latter-day Gen Z emoji repurposing such as using moai emoji 🗿 to convey a chiseled-jaw, “sigma” individual.
However, we are already beginning to see slang terms and pop culture references that are more clearly associated with Gen Alpha than even these latter-day Gen Z folks, which could well be emojified in the near future. For example, it’s possible that the “skibidi toilet” memes begin to be broadly denoted with the 🚽 Toilet emoji, just like the way millennials re-purposed the Frog and Tea emojis to reference the popular “That’s None Of My Business” meme image of Kermit The Frog.
In re-interpreting and repurposing the emoji keyboard for their own purposes, it’s also possible that Gen Alpha could abandon some of the popular interpretations created by Gen Z and revert their meanings back to their original interpretations first established by millennials.
- Gen Z's ironic and humorous use of the skull emoji to signify laughter might be seen as outdated by Gen Alpha, and it could revert back to primarily being used during the Halloween season.
- The terms “cap” or “no cap” may also fall out of fashion, returning the Billed Cap to a simple piece of headgear.
- The Sparkles emoji may no longer be used ironically and might instead be used to discuss artificial intelligence features, given the use of this symbol to denote AI features across various tech platforms.
- The Thumbs Up and the Simple Smiling Face may no longer be deemed passive-aggressive or insincere.
This does not mean that Gen Z would entirely abandon their original reinterpretations of these emojis, however – instead they may well resist the changes being pushed by Gen Alpha in a similar fashion to the way millennials still use the Crying Laughing Face emoji and the Thumbs Up emoji as an earnest form of emoji communication.
Additionally, it’s entirely possible that Gen Alpha re-purpose some or all of these emojis in another unique manner that reflects their own generational wants and needs, further disrupting their meanings away from millennials’ initial interpretations.
This continuous process of reinterpretation ensures that emojis remain a vibrant and integral part of our digital communication landscape.