Just as twentysomethings are catching up, it’s over.
Take the skull (💀), for example, which has come to be used as a reaction for finding something funny – a visual shorthand for the slang phrase: “I’m dead.”
In early 2025, videos started to appear stating that the broken heart emoji was becoming overused and “mainstream”, suggesting the wilting rose as an alternative.
In fact, since the wilting rose’s spike in popularity, some have tried to replace it with the dead battery emoji – but it doesn’t seem to have had the same staying power as the wilting rose.
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Summarized version
In fact, since the wilting rose’s spike in popularity, some have tried to replace it with the dead battery emoji – but it doesn’t seem to have had the same.
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The article, shortened and in plain language
It was the fastest-growing emoji in 2025 – but if you’re older than 16, it has probably passed you by. Just as twentysomethings are catching up, it’s over.
I n the 2025 hit Netflix show Adolescence, DI Luke Bascombe’s 13-year-old son, Adam, has to explain to his father the way his generation use heart emojis.
Take the skull (💀), for example, which has come to be used as a reaction for finding something funny – a visual shorthand for the slang phrase: “I’m dead.” Or the wilting rose which was, according to Google data analysed by the New York Times, the fastest-growing emoji in terms of popularity in 2025 – and was the 93rd most used. That the before obscure wilting rose is now in the top 100 emojis is thanks to generation Alpha or, to suggest mock-heartbreak.
In early 2025, videos started to appear stating that the broken heart emoji was becoming overused and “mainstream”, suggesting the wilting rose as an alternative.
Using emojis “naively” – in other words, the way most over-30s use them, eg a laughing face to express laughter – is a reason for others to make fun of you.
Aleksic makes a comparison to the film Mean Girls, in which high schooler Gretchen tries to make “fetch” the new cool slang term, only to be told by the school’s queen bee, Regina George, to “stop trying to make ‘fetch’ happen”‘fetch’ happen. In fact, since the wilting rose’s spike in popularity, some have tried to replace it with the dead battery emoji – but it doesn’t seem to have had the same staying power as the wilting rose.
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