A report by The New York Times shows that emoji choices can indicate a person's age and demographic group [1].
This discovery suggests that digital symbols function as a linguistic marker, allowing observers to identify a user's generation based on their preferred icons.
Researchers, including linguists and writer Eve Washington, analyzed 665 million [1] emoji uses to identify these patterns. The study drew data from Gboard users worldwide to determine how different age groups employ specific symbols in their daily communication [1, 2].
The findings illustrate that emoji preferences are not universal but differ significantly by generation [1, 2]. These variations mean that the specific emojis a person selects often serve as a demographic signal, a digital fingerprint of their age group.
The project was published as an interactive report on Aug. 12, 2026 [1]. It highlights how the meaning and popularity of certain emojis shift as they move from younger to older populations [1, 2].
“Emoji choices can indicate a person's age and demographic group.”
The study demonstrates that emojis have evolved into a structured form of generational slang. Because these patterns are detectable across millions of data points, emoji usage provides a measurable way to track cultural shifts in communication and digital literacy across different age cohorts.
