Generation Gap Widening Over Telephone/Smartphone Hand Gesture
If you want to know how old a person really is just ask them what they think talking on a telephone looks like. According to BuzzFeed, the hand gesture kids use today to indicate they’re on the phone or ask someone to call them is making older generations weep in their Ensure.
TikTok user Daniel Alvarado (@guesswho_718) discovered that if you’re a child of the ’90s, ’80s, ’70s or earlier, you probably hold your hand up to your face in a phone receiver-like gesture, with thumb and pinky extended like I’m doing in the photo above. However, if you were born after the ’90s, you might have a very different way of signaling that you’re on the phone.
Someone born in 2000 or later is more likely to hold their hand flat to their ear, fingers and thumb pressed solidly together to look more like a smartphone than an old-school phone receiver. Daniel’s video proves it:
@guesswho_718 Even the hand gesture game has changed @kamilo.ny @guesswhos_wifey @itz_daniella12 #LaughPause #dadsoftiktok #momsoftiktok #over30 #kids #fyp
♬ original sound - Daniel Alvarado
Seeing that makes me wonder about other things that might not translate across the generations. I’ve heard of kids asking why their parents say,“Hang up the phone.” Or why do some of us make a circular motion when asking someone to roll down their car window? I know why. We’re getting old.