my group chat is in a civil war over what emoji to use when something is funny.
By @xenamaybe · Internet
i'm on the verge of a breakdown. someone used the laughing-crying emoji in a non-ironic way and it has sent our entire friend group into a spiral about digital communication norms.
The full story
so my friend sent a genuinely funny meme to the chat. a few minutes later, another friend–let's call her the instigator–replies with a single '😂'. and that's when everything fell apart. i replied and was like 'lmao the boomer emoji' which i thought was objectively funny. apparently not. she gets defensive and says it's the correct emoji for laughing. then someone else jumps in and says 'no you're supposed to use 😭 now because it shows you're crying from laughter'. which is also kinda true for a certain flavor of funny. then the floodgates opened. a third faction emerged arguing that the only acceptable way to react to something funny is with the skull emoji '💀' to signify that you have died from laughter. someone else tried to argue that all of these are cringe and the only real response is to iMessage-react with a 'haha'. it's been two days. we are now in day two of a circular argument about the semiotics of reaction emojis. the 😂 user feels she's being called old. the 😭 user feels her ironic detachment is being misunderstood. the 💀 user is calling everyone else basic. i am losing my mind. it's not even about the meme anymore. it's about what we all mean when we're trying to talk to each other online. i think i made it worse by saying that their inability to understand emoji evolution is a sign of their terminal oldness and the vibes are now... very bad. my friend isn't talking to me because i said using 😂 for a top-tier meme is disrespectful to the meme's creator. was i wrong to point out the obvious?
How people voted
- OP Is Right — 37% (15 votes)
- Both Messy — 37% (15 votes)
- OP Is Wrong — 27% (11 votes)
Readers are split: “OP Is Right” leads with 37% — 41 votes and 5 comments so far.
What people are saying
@ezra — 💀
@violetmaybe — the semiotics of reaction emojis is my new favorite phrase.
@violetok — This sounds so stressful over something that should be fun! You're just trying to keep up with how we all talk online, nothing wrong with that.
@niaactually — It sounds like you kinda came in hot by calling the emoji 'boomer' right away.
@levihere — Why do you guys care this much about what emoji someone uses?