Death of��was highly exaggerated

Three years ago, many social commentators from socially acceptable platforms had declared that Gen Z had jettisoned some emojis they reportedly found to be insolent. Just how confident this prognosis was, can be made out in headlines like, 'Gen Z Have Cancelled the Thumbs Up Emoji and Here's Why You Should Worry'. Not only did we not need to worry, but no one worried. Because the thumbs up - considered by pundits to be considered by Zoomers to be 'rude' - and heart emojis ('also verboten') have not only survived Z ire, but have happily proliferated, even among the hyper-hieroglyphical millennials.

So, here's a question we're parking for you today: how does one become so sure about what Gen Z or Gen Alpha - and the upcoming Gen Beta (aur Beti) - 'think'? So, here's our answer. Like Bob Dylan refusing to be tagged as 'the voice of a generation', most generations in the alphabet soup aren't one, single composite entity as if attending the same decadal Nuremberg/Taylor Swift rallies/concerts. But here's the thing: lumping demographic groups under one 'trending' behavioural category can do wonders for the morale and pay bump of market research divisions of companies. After all, who goes back to check the veracity of people who confidently stated in 2022 that the thumbs up emoji would be as dead as the typewriter in 2025? (Answer: We do.)