The Thumbs Up Emoji, Not As Harmless As You Think

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
I asked two fellow Gen z ers how they would
feel if someone responded to their well fought out text
with just a thumbs up, and it shows that there's
a generation gap at play.

Speaker 2 (00:08):
That feels like more of like a later older generation reaction.
You know, something your dad would do, just like they've
seen it confirm it's they're not super excited.

Speaker 1 (00:16):
But what if it was one of your friends though,
like someone that's your age.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
Maybe they're like a little upset at me or something.

Speaker 3 (00:22):
That's what I would say too, they're like a little
angry or something like that. I would expect more of
a response. If it's like a well crafted text, I
would expect something back. Then just the thumbs up.

Speaker 1 (00:31):
And they're not alone. Pretty much everyone under thirty I
talked to said that only liking a text can be
seen as passive aggressive. This comes as a shock to
some millennials and Gen xers.

Speaker 4 (00:40):
Here's my text thread with my wife. So, no, the
thumbs up is like, got it, Okay, that's what received you.

Speaker 1 (00:49):
You don't feel offended at all whenever he does that.

Speaker 3 (00:51):
No, I don't.

Speaker 4 (00:52):
Yeah, at least I don't know.

Speaker 3 (00:54):
It's just reassuring God the text.

Speaker 1 (00:55):
He saw it for gen Z's, though they only read
into a thumbs up if it's from one of their peers,
so the more and Texters are off the hook. Kyle
Bray WBZ, Boston's news radio