r/mildlyinfuriating 1d ago

people making up shit to just hate on gen z

Post image

literally WHO said that gen z finds the thumbs up emoji offensive or rude?? literally not a single soul, the comments are full of boomers and gen x going “soft generation” “wokies” etc etc

literally why do they post such utter nonsense?

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u/Imnotsureanymore8 1d ago

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u/CommanderFate 1d ago edited 1d ago

I came here to post this, this has been my most used image/meme in the past 1-2 years.

Edit: Forgot to add the word "Most"

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u/smurb15 BLACK 1d ago

Maybe just maybe we have way too many sites pretending to give news while the real news is boring as hell meanwhile the fabrication of something socially not acceptable is far far easier for clicks.

I hate this time line

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u/Nruggia 1d ago

I think it's more that we have sites giving "news" that people want to be real. Boomers want to read about how younger generations are all shit and boomers are just the best so some "news" organizations will fill that market demand regardless of if anything is true or not.

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u/heyredditheyreddit 13h ago

Who is pretending to give news in this situation? This is a non-news post about something trending in non-news spaces. The problem isn’t that journalism is dead. It’s that people can’t or won’t distinguish it from noise and garbage.

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u/TheOGDoomer 1d ago

👍

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u/DummyDumDragon 1d ago

Ok, Doomer

/s

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u/MephitidaeNotweed 22h ago

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣀⣠⣤⣀⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⣴⡿⠋⠉⠉⠻⢿⣦⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⢸⣿⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠹⣷⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠈⣿⡄⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢸⣇⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠸⣷⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢸⣿⠀⠀⢀⣀⣀⣀⣀⣀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢻⣇⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢸⣿⣿⡿⠿⠿⠟⠛⠛⠻⢿⣿⣶⣄⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢈⣿⠆⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣀⣠⣤⣤⣤⣤⠀⠈⠻⣿⣇⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⢀⣾⡏⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣴⡿⠋⠉⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢹⡿⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⣀⣤⣼⣿⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢸⡟⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣠⣿⣷⣄⠀ ⢠⣾⠟⠋⠉⠋⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠈⣿⣦⣀⣀⣀⣤⣤⣶⣶⠿⠋⠁⢹⣿⡇ ⢸⣿⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢀⣴⡟⢉⣿⠋⠉⠉⠉⠁⠀⠀⠀⠀⢸⣿⠀ ⢸⣿⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢀⣀⣀⣤⣴⠿⠋⠀⠘⣷⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢀⣴⣿⠏⠀ ⢸⣿⡄⠀⠀⠀⠀⠈⠉⠉⠁⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣸⣿⢶⣤⣤⣴⡶⠿⠛⠙⣿⣆⠀ ⠈⣿⣇⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢰⣿⠁⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣽⣿⠀ ⠀⠘⣿⣆⠀⠀⠀⠀⣠⣤⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠈⠻⣧⣀⡀⠀⠀⠀⣀⣠⣴⡿⠇⠀ ⠀⠀⠘⢿⣿⣦⣤⣴⡿⠻⠿⣷⣦⣤⣤⣤⣴⣾⣿⡿⠿⠿⠿⠟⠛⠉⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠉⢉⣉⠉⠀⠀⠀⠀⠈⠉⠉⠉⠉⠉⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

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u/CattoGinSama 1d ago

Could someone kindly explain that meme?plz

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u/Dr_0-Sera 1d ago

The poster doesn’t care. They briefly acknowledge then return to their group. The meme has a double meaning because of the context.

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u/Briar_Knight 1d ago edited 1d ago

Usually the text is fans of something having a discussion about it, then the outsider comes to criticizes it or says it's trash. A person from the fan group just briefly acknowledges them then goes back to happily discussing the thing they are a fan of again.

Basically "cool opinion, but no one gives a shit". Typically aimed at non fans entering fan spaces to try to get a rise out of them rather than having a genuine discussion.

Edit: fix

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u/stu-pai-pai 1d ago edited 1d ago

Basically a group of people talking.

The person outside the group says something to get their attention and one of the guy's responds with thumbs up, which is basically saying they don't really care what they outsider has to say.

Basically being dismissive to what the outsider is saying. Typically the outside is probably baiting a reaction. "That game you guys like sucks."

"Cool opinion bro." And just goes back talking to friends since they don't care what the outsider has to say because they know they're just trying to bait reactions.

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u/TheAurigauh 1d ago

This is a fantastic image to reply to humble braggers with. Thank you kindly.

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u/grownask 1d ago

I remember when millennials were getting all this hate lol

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u/TheSerialHobbyist 1d ago

Exactly. The world keeps turning...

The sad thing, to me, is how many of my fellow millennials fall for this rage bait crap. It is like they've completely forgotten that the exact same thing was happening to us like 10-20 years ago.

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u/snopro387 1d ago

Never mind 10-20 years ago. It’s still happening now, idk how they could forget

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u/TheSerialHobbyist 1d ago

Very true!

There was some rage bait video going around recently in which a boomer was like "just wait until you have to start paying your own rent and bills, millennials!"

Like, dude... we're all getting into middle age now.

But, of course, that was rage bait, too. Designed to elicit exactly that reaction for engagement.

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u/snopro387 1d ago

I had that exact video in mind! Like some of us have adult children in the workforce never mind us having jobs and paying bills

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u/TheSerialHobbyist 1d ago

And it works!

Even those of us that know it is rage bait still have a hard time just ignoring it altogether. That's why it is so effective!

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u/Unlikely_Sun7802 21h ago

It can only really work if you go to those platforms/apps.

It will never get you and never plant the seeds in your mind if you delete it and move on.

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u/TheSerialHobbyist 21h ago

That's true!

It also helps to tune your algorithms to avoid that kind of content, but there is only so much one can do in that regard.

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u/Unlikely_Sun7802 21h ago

True.

It feels like we can influence our feeds generally like 1/3 of we see. And if we fine tune and really try, we can get it to about 2/3 of the data we see. But no matter what, we will always have at least 1/3 of our streams comprised of data we have no influence over.

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u/TheGreatGenghisJon 18h ago

It's funny, as I was reading your comment I went "No, mines better than...oh, ok...yeah, that's probably about right. "

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u/TheSerialHobbyist 20h ago

I think those ratios are pretty accurate!

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u/Tales_of_Earth 1d ago

As a millennial, pretty much everything I hear millennial’s say about gen z is that it’s bullshit that boomers try to malign them like they did us. The slang stuff is funny to us and we don’t get most of it(but that’s more and more gen alpha) but it’s not like we are mad about or think it’s evil or a moral failing.

The only consistent criticism I hear from millennials about Gen Z is that they aren’t good at writing (especially in a professional setting) and don’t know how to use functional tech stuff in office settings (PDFs, phone systems, email tools, etc.).

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u/-Trash-Bandicoot- 1d ago

Yup! I remember during 2020 there being articles like “millennials are gathering in Florida for spring break”.

Like… I’m in my mid late 30’s bro. I’m doing no such thing haha.

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u/NoItsNotIronic 1d ago

I had a friend back in the 2010s who was just ranting about how bad the country was. And the crown jewel of his point was “But you know what I really hate? It’s those fucking millennials.” I had to stop him and say “Kevin… YOU’RE a millennial.” I explained what made a millennial. “Yeah well… I mean OTHER millennials.” He basically just blindly parroted the hate he heard on Fox News. It should not have surprised me as much as it did that he’s a nazi now.

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u/TheSerialHobbyist 1d ago

Yeah, typical "le wrong generation" stuff, haha.

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u/mrpotato-42 18h ago

People are still doing it. Recently came across a rant by a millennial who apparently still hasn't gotten the message that he is a millennial, it was clear he meant much younger people.

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u/Acceptable-Donut-271 1d ago

i’ve had millennials say to me that i don’t understand a “good childhood” bc i’m gen z and i “couldn’t possibly know” what a VHS tape is.. or a VCR… or a fucking CD 😭😭

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u/TheSerialHobbyist 1d ago

Haha, I understand your frustration!

I was born in '88 and it isn't like I wasn't familiar with vinyl records and 8-track tapes, just because they were a bit outdated by then.

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u/ancientblond 1d ago

It gets more painful as an older Gen Z, cause VHS, VCR's, and CD's werent even "old" or "outdated"when i was a young kid... those were just the formats we used lol

Like I explicitly remember DVD's becoming widespread, but I've had millennials be like "HAH, YOU DONT EVEN REMEMBER A TIME BEFORE STREAMING!" like bitch my first exposure to Netflix was a mail in service too? Especially when its people in your age range; like they're only 10 years older? Do they not realize I only really missed out on POG and Pokémon getting hype?!

Just perplexing shit ngl

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u/PotatoAmulet 1d ago

I'm an older gen z who still uses CDs in my car because it's an older car and I like the simplicity on the road. Want it louder or quieter? Buttons are on the wheel. Not vibing with this song? I can either skip to the next one or turn it off. Not vibing with this artist/album? Press the next disc button.

I also use DVDs for the Simpsons because The Mouse can attempt to pry my copy of Stark Raving Dad from my cold dead hands.

Edit: almost forgot to tell everyone to CDeez nuts

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u/gophertesticles 1d ago

Didn't have wheel buttons in my old car. We had removable faceplates with the most amazing pixel-based visualized system

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u/73-68-70-78-62-73-73 1d ago

That was the fancy shit. Up until I bought my first new car, right about when I was 30, I was using FM transmitters, or tape deck adapters to play my CDs.

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u/Acceptable-Donut-271 1d ago

my first netflix was that zip up pouch of bootleg dvds/vhs that you would get off that one dodgy guy everyone knows 😭😭

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u/ancientblond 1d ago

I was that dodgy guy for my school.

I still have CD-RW's around my house lmao

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u/Acceptable-Donut-271 1d ago

ours was called greg, i must’ve been about 4 or 5. but i was always so amazed that he would get the dvds/vhs for us before my friends had it, i thought it was pure magic

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u/TheLoneWoof84 1d ago

We used to do the same thing, download movie torrents and make DVDs. TIL one year we downloaded Rum Diaries, and received a cease and desist letter from the Motion Picture Association of America I think. And they specifically called out Rum Diaries in their letter having been downloaded by us.

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u/No-Engineer-8237 23h ago

Yeah I was downloading mad mixtapes for fools in HS till one day I forgot to close out the browser history before getting off the family computer. Moms whooped my ass the next day after school yelling at me talking bout “IF THE FBI COME TO THIS HOUSE IM GIVING YOU UP” 😂💀

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u/LordLuxor 1d ago

Made of either canvas or faux-leather, depending on which one I pull from. 2 CD’s a page, god forbid your little sibling found it

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u/Acceptable-Donut-271 1d ago

exactly! then they’d pull it out from the tv stand and manage to scratch every single disk within 30 seconds 😔

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u/extordi 1d ago

"just polish it with some toothpaste!"

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u/DankoleClouds 1d ago

This woke up something in me that was long dormant.

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u/Sleepingguitarman 21h ago

Now that's something i long forgot about, hahaha

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u/TheSerialHobbyist 1d ago

Yeah, it is all very silly. "Generational theory" is pretty dumb to begin with.

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u/ancientblond 1d ago

And its all circular

When people were hating on millennials who were in their mid-late 20's in the 2010's; they were looking at subsections of Gen z and saying "these are millennials"

And now that Gen Z is primed to get that hate; they're looking at Gen Alpha(?) And going "these are Gen z"

It would be a beautiful representation of how humanity can change, itll always be the same, if it wasnt so fucking stupid lmfao

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u/funkster047 1d ago

Early 2000s baby for da win! Never forget spending my summers in front of a VCR player watching treasure planet, Titan A.E., Indiana Jones, Star wars, and the like

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u/Acceptable-Donut-271 1d ago

i’m mid 2000s gen z so i grew up on VHS tapes, it baffles me that people think they suddenly vanished in 1999

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u/Successful-Grass-135 1d ago

Born in 2003 and I remember using VHS tapes until I was about 10. But my family was pretty behind on new technology.

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u/NewLeave2007 1d ago

I'm a young millennial, my brother is an older Gen Z.

He absolutely knows VHS.

He doesn't know what it was like to not be able to use the internet and the phone at the same time.

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u/RedditGarboDisposal 1d ago

As a ‘96 millennial, you can tell them all to pipe it up their asses. They’re the same group who labelled Gen Z as “millennials” before they realize they were dunking on themselves the entire time because millennial = 80’s up to the late 90’s.

Boneheads.

That aside, I’ll admit that the world was a lot more fun and natural. Less tech-oriented exchanges and establishments but that’s part of your generation’s fun. It’s what you guys know and that’s your norm, and that is okay.

Millennials like to gate keep fun as if they were the last ones to experience it lol. They also fail to realize that some people of Gen Z have siblings who have served as gateways to the millennial age. Parents too.

The only thing I can say is that socializing back then was better than it is now. Easily. And I know that people of Gen Z would feel the same way strictly by virtue of the fact that it was just easier.

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u/No_Mammoth_4945 1d ago

Half the posts I see on the millennials sub are about how Gen Z supposedly hates their no show socks lmao

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u/TheSerialHobbyist 1d ago

Lol, yep, a lot of that, too!

And they get so upset about it...

Like, guys, of course our styles were going to become unfashionable. That always happens to every generation and it is okay.

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u/CMHex 1d ago

Absolutely. As a millennial I find myself reminding my wife and friends that we were once in the crosshairs (and sometimes still are) and to treat these stories with the skepticism they deserve.

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u/TheSerialHobbyist 1d ago

treat these stories with the skepticism they deserve.

Yes! Anything that elicits an emotional reaction should be examined with at least some skepticism.

None of us have the time to evaluate everything we come across. But we should at least be cognizant that we're just as susceptible to cognitive biases as everyone else.

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u/cmax22025 1d ago

That shit drives me crazy. "Millenials are killing X" and "Millenials are lazy and don't want to work". It's the same repetitive nonsense over and over. And now I see my friends sharing the same stuff.

Oh, and that's not even including my millennial friends that used to trash millennials before finding out they are one. That was a real problem for a long time.

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u/TheSerialHobbyist 1d ago

And now I see my friends sharing the same stuff.

Yes!

Come on y'all, is your memory that short?!

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u/GruntledVeteran 1d ago

Must be all that avocado toast.

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u/TheKingoftheBlind 22h ago

Right? I’ve seen millennials complain about the “Gen Z stare” and I’m just like, do y’all NOT REMEMBER when Boomers were saying this shit about us??

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u/sati_lotus 1d ago

Eh, the Gen Zs will turn on the Alphas eventually.

Circle of life.

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u/TheSerialHobbyist 1d ago

Haha, they definitely will!

But personally, I'm doing my best to avoid falling into that trap.

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u/Bored_Amalgamation 1d ago

Tbf, they're still blaming millennials for shit.

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u/Meows2Feline 1d ago

The millennial sub is becoming so boomerish its honestly cringe. I saw a thread there the other day where they were complaining about "new slang" and how they find it annoying. Congratulations, you got old and fell for all of the same shit you said you'd never do.

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u/cupholdery 1d ago

Gets me worried for other millennials too. They really sound like our boomer parents' age group now.

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u/Unusual-Error1377 1d ago

Yall remember Facebook pokes?

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u/Nicaol 1d ago

Yup, I remember making the bold decision to wear ankle socks(long after everyone else started) now it's back to longer socks like the ones I didn't want to give up.

Never felt older. I'm only 37.

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u/Long-Firefighter5561 1d ago

we killed so many industries couple years ago :(

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u/Summoarpleaz 1d ago

And yet some industries we also seem to hate just aren’t dying!

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u/MuyalHix 22h ago

"Millennials are killing X" mutated into "Zoomers are trying to cancel X"

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u/Thaumato9480 23h ago

Will someone think of the napkin industry!

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u/Sexisthunter 1d ago

“Guys guys! It’s the kids fault the world sucks! Don’t look at the government or the corporations, it’s the kids you want to go after!!”

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u/SerotoninAddict 1d ago

i had a friend, a millennial, who many years ago was sharing stuff complaining about millennials. i asked him, "what is a millennial?" he said he didn't know, so i told him. he was like, "but, that's me. why would they do that?" i said, gee i don't know. why would older people, who don't want anything to change, demonize younger people who are coming into political power?

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u/PhotoFenix 1d ago

Haha I remember the news "stories" about all the acronyms we were using online in the 2000s. None of us had ever heard of any of them.

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u/grownask 1d ago

Such a classic.

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u/Brook420 20h ago

"Millenials are so pampered, with thier participation awards. In my day you only got awards you earned"

  • Generation that insisted on giving millennial kids all those participation awards.
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u/Appropriate-Lab6943 1d ago

I love 👍🏻 it’s my favourite one. Straight to the point

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u/Island_Monkey86 1d ago

Couldn't agree more 👍

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u/poeticdisaster 1d ago

A few years back I started giving a thumbs up instead of flipping people off. It's much more satisfying.

I guess I'm gen z now. /s

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u/EgoSenatus 1d ago

I know several gen Z people who interpret “👍🏻” as passive aggressive on par with responding “k” to someone. To them, it’s expressing either apathy or hostility towards the other person- a “I read your message, but I do not care to respond to it.”

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u/Altruistic-Meal-4016 1d ago

I agree. I sent a message to someone I work with, giving advice on how to do something differently. This is someone who was a friend. She interpreted the 👍as passive aggressive and passed my message on to the MD. I use it instead of 😊 because I think that’s a bit twee.

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u/fionapickles 1d ago

The problem is, I think people do use the thumbs up passive aggressively. It all depends on the context.

I hate the smiley face, especially in a work context. My boss uses it to express annoyance and to sugar coat things, it’s incredibly annoying.

Tbh, everyone attaches their own meaning to emojis. Unless you know what the emoji means to someone at work, I think it’s better to not use them at all in that environment.

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u/[deleted] 1d ago edited 14h ago

[deleted]

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u/SexyPineapple-4 22h ago

🙂 or 👍🏼 while they are friendly, they come off as passive aggressive. It’s like rolling your eyes, saying kay, or bless your heart. They’re usually benign but can be passive aggressive.

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u/StoicallyGay 1d ago

I find this really crazy and dumb that people would just assume the connotation especially if they don't know the other person.

As a gen Z person who is pretty passive aggressive myself a lot of the time, I've always used 👍. Since I was a teen (now in 20s). I use it at work. I use it with my friends. With my mom. "Gaming at 9 tn?" I'll ask, to which I'll get 👍 as a response.

To me, 👍 means "nice!" or "sure" or "I agree" or "that's true." Idk. I'm a chronic overthinker with some social anxiety too but this is literally not something I've ever considered to be passive aggressive unless I know the person and know that they typically don't act like this, e.g. if someone I know usually is super peppy and energetic and that emoji is out of character.

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u/SSSolas 23h ago

Literally, in discord, it’s the most polite way to agree.

You don’t need to clog up the chat. Just lost a reaction. It’s the most useful way to do it.

I think it’ll be an interesting cultural device. Anyone in a site like discord where you can react to a message won’t see it as passive aggressive. They’ll see it as normal, if not polite.

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u/yrtemmySymmetry 19h ago

👍 definitely depends on the context.

as a reaction, or part of a larger message? that's agreement, or generally positive.

standalone message though i think thats a bit passive aggressive.

in discord I've recently taken to reacting with 🔥 to indicate agreement. Like, thats straight fire, or just "lit"

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u/s1n0d3utscht3k 1d ago

a lot of millennials (maybe 30-40 ppl… big firm with lots of cross-team interactions) i work with think the same thing

it’s made me overly cautious about using it lol

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u/Impressive_Recon 1d ago

I mean I use to acknowledge someone’s Teams message (by liking their message with a thumbs up) when there isn’t anything else for me to say. I feel like that’s a lot better than leaving them on read and not saying anything at all.

And obviously there are nuances:

Where it works: “I emailed those reports you requested over to the vendor.” 👍 (Liking this is fine, it’s just a status update and doesn’t really require a response.)

Example where it doesn’t work as well: “Hey, just checking if you’re okay with me sending this draft to the client now?” 👍 (Liking this comes off as vague or dismissive since they’re asking for a clear go ahead, not just an acknowledgment.)

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u/RimRunningRagged 1d ago

I agree. I had a boomer ask me about this, since their daughter told them it's a questionable emoji to use. In my mind, in the workplace, it's fine to use to indicate that you've read a message, and have nothing to add. On social media, it's definitely got a bit of a sarcastic, "cool story bro" vibe.

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u/24675335778654665566 1d ago

It's perceived similarly in even corporate jobs I've worked.

We use :ack: reactions instead

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u/Wait-4-Kyle 1d ago

I just see that as “Yup, good to go.”

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u/Lucky-Asparagus-7760 1d ago

😊 is twee??? Man, I'm probably insulting everyone by this point. Just gonna sign off with 🔥🔥🔥🔥 from now on

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u/MrWeirdoFace 1d ago

Just gonna sign off with 🔥🔥🔥🔥 from now on

Did you just threaten to burn down my house?

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u/Lucky-Asparagus-7760 1d ago

I did not. But I needed a neutral emoji so people don't think I'm being rude. Perhaps, I'll just tell people to "have day." Seems the least offensive.

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u/MrWeirdoFace 23h ago

This is certainly a day we've been having.

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

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u/TJ_Rowe 1d ago

I mean, that's kinda what it means?

"I bought milk." (Meaning you don't need to.) "👍"

Is fine.

"You have a new grandchildren and here is a photograph!" "👍"

Is not fine.

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u/NocturneSapphire 1d ago

This is the new "you're welcome" vs "no problem"

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u/SuspiciousReminder 1d ago

Server: “sure, that’s no problem”

My mom: “well I HOPE it’s not a problem, that’s actually YOUR JOB”

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u/DazzlingFruit7495 1d ago

Thanks for explaining this bc I never got why older people thought no problem was rude. I interpret it the opposite to them, I’m saying no problem because it’s literally my job, if I said “ur welcome” it’s because I went out of my way to do u a favor.

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u/yung_dogie 22h ago

Yeah it's kinda silly that people get on each other's cases for how they respond to someone saying thanks. Like I say "you good" in person when I'm not at work in response and some people think way too hard about it. It's just a formality anyways, it does not matter to me at all how someone responds to me (if at all) unless their specific tone is being overly sarcastic.

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u/damNSon189 1d ago edited 19h ago

However, for many gen Z people it did become a complete aversion to the thumb up and associating it with rudeness. I have seen it not online and irl. At work my gen Z colleague cannot bring themself to use it in the instant messaging app we use. We all use that emoji when a message just needs an acknowledgment and no reply (like in the “fine” case of your example), but that colleague has to use the 👌🏼 emoji. They took some time to not feel that we were being rude to them in the beginning.

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u/No-Relation5965 1d ago

That looks like someone passing a blunt or someone responding “Sure, Jan.”

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u/damNSon189 1d ago

To me it always reminds me of “I’m thiiiis close to losing my shit” lol

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u/Zefrem23 1d ago

Oh you mean that well-known white supremacist emoji?

https://www.adl.org/resources/hate-symbol/okay-hand-gesture

/s

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u/CassadagaValley 1d ago

The only people I know at work that use the thumbs up emoji are boomers and gen x. My millennial coworkers just say "no worries" or something like that.

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u/PhaseSilver9261 1d ago

As an older millennial I interpret 👍 the same way, picture version of "k"

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u/odanobux123 23h ago

In text, maybe. In a Teams chat as a reply to something about work? Isn’t it fairly standard? If it’s a personal conversation I can see it being rude but I’d prefer a thumbs up reaction over an email chain of thanks.

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u/FishStiques 1d ago

Exactly. Like on messenger there's a button for the thumbs up specifically so you don't have to text the person💀

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u/Hokulol 1d ago

My dad hits me with the thumb emoji no matter what.

I could tell him the sky was falling and he'd just 👍. Guy thinks its a read receipt or something, and it absolutely drives me up a wall. Rude? No. Generational difference? Yea.

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u/Acceptable-Donut-271 1d ago

my stepdad uses it the exact same way, he’ll ask me if i’m home i’ll say yes and ask him what he wants to eat bc im ordering food and he just hits me with the 👍

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u/MikalCaober 1d ago

LOL. "Do you wanna eat Mexican or Japanese tonight?" "Yes"

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u/JPK12794 1d ago

It's weird being on the youngest end of being a millennial and seeing the things they used to say about us being said about gen z.

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u/possiblycrazy79 1d ago

It's literally nothing new. It's not like it only happened to millennials & Zs. My dad is 70 & his parents ragged on his generation for having long hair & wearing bell bottoms. The biggest difference is now we have social media platforms that enhance all forms of whining & division

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u/MrWeirdoFace 1d ago

It's so fucked up. I genuinely believed the internet was going to bring us all together and knock down all the old misconceptions we have about each other. Rather, for me it exposed me to the world. I made friends from other cultures I knew nothing of previously, etc.

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u/-ManofMercia- 1d ago

It's quite likely that it's now millennials writing these articles about Gen Z.

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

It’s dumb generational BS. GenX are now being called boomers and we are the smallest group and just want to be left tf alone.

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u/ruschka_sa_millian 1d ago

That generation stuff has to stop. Why is there a need to fight and put another generation down?

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u/timonix 1d ago

This is just k all over again

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u/PolarisX 1d ago edited 4h ago

It really is.

I couldn't stand 'k' and I can't stand the thumbs up emoji. Both annoying to me anyways. I always feel like I annoyed someone reaching out if they used either.

Edit - Respond to texts however you all like. Reddit seems to have a problem with how I feel about this and that's fine. K?

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u/[deleted] 23h ago edited 14h ago

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u/ovo_Reddit 1d ago

K. What’s your point? 👍

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u/Interesting_Help_274 1d ago

Me when I'm making stuff up: 👍

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u/Nivosus 1d ago

Gen Z is just starting to get the treatment that millennials did. Constant hate stories and fake bullshit to cause generational discourse.

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u/cedarcia 1d ago

I feel like this will happen until the end of time. I’m gen Z but when I get older I’ll have to remember how dumb and sensational these headlines are about young people and not take them at face value about people who are younger than me 😅

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u/Happy_Little_Fish 1d ago

block em, prune your algorithm, let the idiots get mad if they want to.

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u/Acceptable-Donut-271 1d ago

i’ve never seen that account in my feed before, i think insta is just trying to annoy people

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u/madeformarch 1d ago

👍🏾

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u/Mr-Tokey 1d ago edited 1d ago

Nonsense and fear mongering about the youth in the news is not new. I'm 40 and I remember there being a news born urban legend about "bracelet parties" where kids would wear bracelets according to what kinks and sex they like....

I was 16, hanging out at trap houses after raves knowing full well that it's bullshit and I would have seen it if it was true.

It's just a sensationalist story to get clicks and views

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u/drillgorg 1d ago

Oh like those lig gloss parties where each girl would wear a different color lip gloss and the guys would try to gather a complete rainbow on a certain body part. Complete urban legend, never happened outside of maybe a very specific kink event organized by adults.

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u/Mr-Tokey 1d ago

More likely it's just a pedos fantasy projections

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u/ElbowRager 1d ago

I mean at least initially, sex bracelets and their meanings were a thing, in a very small subculture. If anything, the media attention around them is what made them so common that you’d have billy in the back of the 8th grade class wearing his black bracelet.

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u/TheSerialHobbyist 1d ago

That's how many of these things go.

It happens one time to one person/group, then you get a rage bait article about what the teens are doing.

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u/poeticdisaster 1d ago

The scenarios that paranoid adults come up with about how kids are spending their time away from home are wild sometimes. A friend of mine in middle & high school had their parents accuse them of all sorts of things and she was the most mild mannered, sweetest girl you could ever meet. She never even cursed but they took her door away because she was "obviously scheming to do horrible things" when they couldn't see her. It was insane really.

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u/Reason_Choice 1d ago

You can thank Oprah for helping spread that nonsense.

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u/Adam-the-gamer 1d ago

“Hanging out at trap houses”

“If anyone was getting laid in kinky ways— I’D KNOW ABOUT” 😂

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u/Mr-Tokey 1d ago

Lol, I had wild teenage years. At the time we just called it the party house, but looking back it was either abandoned or was a trap house

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u/bigOlBellyButton 1d ago

I remember the context of this. Basically ONE person posted that they found their coworkers unhelpful and passive aggressive because they'd constantly assign tasks to him with zero information. When he'd ask them to elaborate or point him in the right direction, they'd all just reply with a thumbs up (which I personally do find very passive aggressive).

Anyway, your typical news trash like NYPost and the like immediately started their tirade about how all gen z hates the thumbs up emoji.

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u/Mugiwara-no-Boushi 1d ago

But then how will my dad answer all my texts?

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u/PrivateUseBadger 1d ago

People make up shit just to hate on other people. It isn’t just Gen Z specific. Despite, or maybe due to, being in the current age of instant information access, we (all current generations) are more ignorant than we’ve ever been.

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u/Formal_Ad5197 1d ago

Generations are a made up concept, yall are way too fixated on it

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u/KCGD_r 1d ago

I have quite literally never in my life heard anyone complain about a 👍

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u/live-the-future trapped in an imperfect world 1d ago

Me neither, until I came to these comments

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u/cedarcia 1d ago

I’m gen Z and I just think it is only rude in a certain context. Just like the laughing emoji could be laughing with someone or laughing at someone. It all depends. That’s just what happens when you use basic symbols for communication that have multiple interpretations.

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u/Jaden-Rayne 1d ago

K.

(Is that better 😂)

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u/Motor-Pomegranate831 1d ago

In related news, every person born between 1995 and 2015 apparently has the same view about an emoji.

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u/Embarrassed-Weird173 1d ago

Some legitimately do get offended. They see it as a "yeah ok, buddy" or "good for you".

I have seen people here agree with it. Similarly, some of them find proper grammar to be condescending or prissy.  

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u/Frederf220 1d ago

Some people absolutely mean it as offensive. Let's not put all the blame on interpretation.

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u/RoodThrowawae 1d ago

I refuse to believe "Good for you" is anything other than "Cool, I don't care".

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u/TheSerialHobbyist 1d ago

Yeah, but it is about context and isn't exclusive to Gen Z.

You could have said the exact same thing 10 years ago about about millennials or Gen X.

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u/Tangled_Clouds 1d ago

There’s a big difference between

“The party starts at 10” “👍”

and

“My first grade teacher who advocated for me when I was getting bullied just died two days ago and I’m really sad about it” “👍”

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u/TheSerialHobbyist 1d ago

Exactly!

And that has been the case for a looooong time. Basically as long as that emoji has existed...

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u/-TheBlackSwordsman- 1d ago

But the thumbs up emoji can totally be used that way. It can be super dismissive. Even in real life. Imagine speaking to someone and they respond by just holding up a thumbs up and saying nothing else lol

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u/camlloc255 1d ago

They had this same story years ago. Just looking to get more easy engagement probably

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u/johceesreddit 1d ago

I am gen z and literally use the thumbs up emoji all the time

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u/PlentyMacaroon8903 1d ago

You know the saying that every generation blames the one before? It's content and it's also mostly true. But it's never been more true than with boomers. Case in point, boomers have extended their blame to the people before them, to (somehow) the people after them too. Truly Earth's worst generation. 

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u/Ok-External-5750 1d ago

I’m Gen X and I think it’s kinda rude. Use me as a scapegoat if ya want.

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u/egosomnio 1d ago

There was a Reddit post a while ago where someone said that it can seem passive aggressive (similarly to how "k" can seem dismissive depending on context) so they don't like it. That gets dug up occasionally so ragebaity crap can be posted about how soft Gen Z is or whatever.

Welcome to every "X group wants to cancel Y apparently innocuous thing" article that's really about like two people making posts complaining about something on Twitter.

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u/red286 1d ago

A lot of this pointless fluff journalism is based off of a single instance, sometimes satirical or sarcastic.

I mean, the whole "stay-at-home-son" thing came from a Jeopardy contestant making a joke about the fact that he's currently unemployed, yet somehow it morphed into "Gen Z men can't be bothered to get jobs, prefer to live in mom's basement, calling themselves 'stay-at-home-sons'". It's made out of whole cloth, but it's got a ring of truthiness to Gen X parents who were shoved out the door by their parents at 18 seeing their Gen Z kids staying at home until their mid-20s because job prospects are pretty weak and rents are sky-high.

That being said, responding to someone with nothing more than a thumbs-up emoji is obnoxious. I don't see it as a Gen Z thing. I'm Gen X and it pisses me off. It's no different than "k".

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u/AetaCapella 1d ago

Clickbait title is clickbaity.

But also depending on the context it CAN be inappropriate or rude.

Not Rude: I'm on my way home see you when I get there
👍

Rude: I'm not gonna make it, I just got in a car accident
👍

I will say of all the people I text with it's pretty much all of the non-millenials who can't read the (digital) room when tossing out emojis. It's always some kid or Gen Xer/Boomer who's Heart emojiing on some tragedy in the family group chat.

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u/BooBeeAttack 1d ago

Cross generational communication is a good thing. The problem is there are lots of groups who know if they keep each generation bitching at the previous and forming generational cliches and groups (this goes for a lot of things, not just generations) then we won't work together on the bigger issues.

They also know that rage is a great way to generate ad revenue and engagement.

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u/RespondHuge8378 1d ago

Boomer-bait

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u/goosesboy 1d ago

What is with this shit? I am millennial but work with lots of gen Z and this type of “news” just isn’t real. It’s probably too late for anyone beyond a certain age but the rest of us need to be shutting stuff like this down. It’s nothing but divisive propaganda.

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u/Opposite_Unlucky 1d ago

I wish people would come from behind the meme so we would know not to take them seriously.

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u/IlliniDawg01 1d ago

My gen Z daughters tell me that for them 👍🏻 is only used sarcastically or to mean🖕🏻

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u/sayleanenlarge 1d ago

Gen Z is getting a lot of hate recently. It's like all the boomer shit that happened around 8 years ago. I guess it's their turn to get the hate. I wonder if it's propaganda driven or just spreading like a fad/trend?

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u/Hellmann 1d ago

This is actually a thing though. It’s universally seen as passive aggressive. Especially in tech.

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u/Many-Possibility6 1d ago

Bottom shelf clickbait