In news that is sure to have commentators leaving “WHAT?! How is this news?” comments, it seems that the thumbs-up emoji is being cancelled.
This all started on Reddit when one poster opined that they were “not adult enough to be comfortable with the thumbs-up emoji reaction” with others agreeing.
The anonymous poster, who stated their age as 24, wrote, “It’s super rude if someone just sends you a thumbs up. So I also had a weird time adjusting because my workplace is the same.”
Another user likened it to the equivalent of walking “into your boss’ room, say something, and then see him turn to you, look you in the eye, and give a thumbs-up.”
Which is a crazy scenario, as if bosses look you in the eye!
Here at The Project, when I walk into Peter Helliar’s office, he doesn’t look me in the eye, he simply yells “MORE VIRAL VEDNESDAY CLIPS NOW”, and I hurry back to my desk and on every device I have, I doom scroll Tik Tok until I see a dog steal an old ladies false teeth as the old lady chases it and somehow falls in a pool.
But if you are worried about upsetting the youth in your texts, you can always do what our parents told us as kids, which is “use your words”. This, according to Business consultant Sue Ellson is the much safer, more professional, and less confusing option.
“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 the next steps.”
And if you are the boss of Gen Z’s and they are complaining that your use of the thumbs up is rude or hostile, you can always just reply with this simple clip from Mad Men to show them what being rude and hostile is actually like
