The surprising Emojis you SHOULD be using in 2022 and what they mean

You should be using the blue baseball cap, skull and both crying laughing emojis in texts and online, according to new research published days after “old people” were criticized for using the “thumbs up” in conversation.

Gen Z can’t get enough of the smiling emojis and skull to convey a good mood, according to research from Adobe, which shows the smiling crying face is popular across the board.

Other cool and up-and-coming emojis that prove that you know about online communication are the cowboy and the blue cap.

But Adobe’s research shows that you should be careful when using the emojis, as their meaning can change depending on the audience.

According to the makers, the intended meaning for the cowboy is ‘exuberance’.

But Gen Z uses it to convey “pretend you’re happy when you’re sad.”

“Seventy percent of Gen Zs admit to using emojis that go against their intended meaning, as do 60 percent of Gen Y,” the survey found.

Boomers are sticking more to the traditional meaning: Only 20 percent admit to sending an emoji to convey a different meaning.

This can be seen in the thumbs-up emoji, which is seen as negative and passive aggressive for Gen Z and Millennials and very positive for Boomers.

Boomers, on the other hand, are more likely to stick to the original meanings – that’s why they still like to use the thumbs up, while those under 30 think it’s “passive-aggressive.”

The most popular emoji across the board is the crying smiling face and the first of three of the trending pictures used to express something funny.

Next is the rolling smiling face, followed by the skull.

Although the cap emoji is becoming more and more popular, it is often abused by older people – its contemporary use is to provoke people for lying.

While the clown is used to convey shame after saying something silly.

The research was released following the revelation that younger people feel attacked when the thumbs up is used in a conversation.

This is reflected in the Adobe study showing that Gen Y and Gen Z rarely use it, despite it being the most popular emoji for boomers.

Whether the chat is informal, between friends or at work, the icon appears to have a very different, ‘rude’ meaning to the younger generation.

A 24-year-old on Reddit summed up Gen Z’s argument, saying it’s best used “never in any situation” because it’s “hurtful.”

“Nobody my age in the office does it, but the Gen X people do it all the time. Took me a bit to fit and get [it] off the top of my head that it means they’re mad at me,” he added.

Others agreed it’s bad form, especially at work where the team can come across as unfriendly and unfriendly.

“My last workplace had a WhatsApp chat for our team to send information to each other and most people there just responded with a thumbs up.

“I don’t know why, but I found it a bit hostile,” said one woman.

And according to Business Consultant Sue Ellson, it may be time to lead the way with the younger generation.

She believes that words are always better than symbols in a professional icon and can see people becoming disillusioned with the ‘all good’ icon.

“Predictive systems can type a word like ‘Thank you’ in two clicks after a while,” she told FEMAIL.

“It feels like people are ‘too lazy’ to type a written response and it doesn’t clarify the next steps,” she said.

“You mean yes, I’ll do something, okay, I agree or is it just confirmation that you got the message,” she added.

And a poll of 2,000 young people between the ages of 16 and 29 found the same, with the majority who used it agreeing that those who drive are “officially old and past.”

Other emojis used by “old people” who are in the top ten are the red love heart, the OK hand, and a grim face.

Office workers on Reddit have long been divided on the issue — and it seems age has everything to do with it.

While people in their mid-thirties and older like to use the thumbs up, younger people are not.

‘Why do you find it annoying? Honest question… because that’s literally how I respond to 90% of the messages… However, I’m almost 40,” said one person.

And it seemed that the older the person behind the keyboard, the more likely they were to “love” to give the thumbs up.

“I love it because it means a lot of things. It means ‘I approve’ or ‘I have understood and will obey’ or ‘I agree’. Anyway, my only objection would be that some days it’s hard to tell which one it means. But in general it’s pretty clear,” says one woman.

Ms Ellson said some people hate the thumbs up because it’s seen as an automatic option and ‘may have been pressed by accident’.

And she agreed with other people’s fears that it could be misunderstood.

“It potentially has very different meanings, depending on the cultural background of the recipient — approval, happiness, encouragement, number one, or going to the surface while diving,” she said.

She thinks the thumbs up should “stay on social media” or at most text messages,

“It can be a nice technique to like a message before responding in text because it indicates that the sender’s message was ‘good’ and this can benefit the relationship,” she said.

Ms. Ellson said it’s important to understand relationship dynamics in a workplace before deciding to use emojis or not.

This includes whether the organization would like staff to send emojis to customers.

It’s also important to “check in” with the staff to make sure no one is offended by the chosen emojis, as their meaning can change across communities.