We used to think etiquette handbooks gathered dust after high school graduation.
Then along came Gen Z with an updated rulebook—and no one got the memo.
I’m not here to shame anyone (I still catch myself double-tapping the space bar).
But if you’ve ever sent a voicemail or rocked skinny jeans only to feel…dated, this list might explain why.
Let’s walk through the ten habits younger folks have quietly placed on the “please retire” shelf.
1. Leaving voicemails
Last week a college intern phoned my office, hung up, and sent a text that began, “I didn’t leave a voicemail—didn’t want to scare you.”
For Gen Z, recorded messages feel slow and invasive when a short text does the job.
Even big business noticed. “We realized that hardly anyone uses voice mail anymore,” a JPMorgan executive confessed when the bank scrapped land-line mailboxes.
Quick pivot: If you must call, hang up before the tone and follow with a concise text: “Called with an update—free to chat at 3 p.m.?”
2. Using the crying-laughing emoji 😂
Remember when that little face meant “I’m dying of laughter”?
Gen Z replaced it with the skull 💀 or simply “lol.”
As CNN’s Clare Duffy put it, “The laughing, crying face emoji was really popular among millennials. And then Gen Z said, this is cringe.”
Quick pivot: Swap 😂 for 🤣, 💀, or—if you’re truly amused—an actual “that’s hilarious.”
3. Wearing skinny jeans as the default
I still own the pair that survived four music festivals.
Problem: younger shoppers see skinnies as a “millennial uniform.” Straight, wide-leg, or barrel styles read fresher.
Quick pivot: Keep skinny silhouettes for boots-over-pants situations, and play with relaxed cuts elsewhere.
4. Reacting with a thumbs-up 👍 in chats
What feels like “Got it!” to us can read as dismissive.
Gen Z prefers a heart, a check-mark, or a short reply (“Sounds good!”).
Quick pivot: Match the chat vibe: mirror the reaction style you see, or write one brief sentence instead of tapping 👍.
5. Double-spacing after a period
Typewriters required it; modern fonts don’t.
Two spaces on Slack look like you borrowed your dad’s résumé template.
Quick pivot: Let muscle memory catch up—one space, always.
6. Parting your hair on the side
Style videos on TikTok declared the side part “dated” and crowned the middle part the new neutral.
It’s not about face shape so much as generational shorthand.
Quick pivot: Test a soft middle part or an off-center “smudge” that isn’t a deep swoosh.
7. Paying with cash only
Nothing wrong with bills—until a café queue stalls while you fish for coins.
Gen Z grew up with tap-to-pay; insisting on paper feels inefficient (and sometimes unhygienic).
Quick pivot: Adopt a mobile wallet for everyday small purchases; save cash for tips and emergencies.
8. Writing passive-aggressive email openers
“Per my last email…” or “Circling back…” lands as corporate eye-roll to younger teammates who favor directness.
Quick pivot: Try, “Just checking whether the graphics are ready—let me know if you need anything from me.” Clear beats coded.
9. Using single-use plastic straws
Climate-minded Zoomers see plastic straws the way we see littering from car windows—unthinkable.
Quick pivot: Carry a metal or silicone straw, or sip lid-first. Small swap, big credibility.
10. Using gendered pep talks like “man up”
Finally, language that once passed as harmless motivation is being re-examined.
Film-maker Jennifer Siebel Newsom calls “be a man” “the most dangerous phrase in the English language.”
Quick pivot: Encourage resilience without gender tags: “You’ve got this,” or “Stay strong.”
Final thoughts
Culture never stops moving; neither should our habits.
Gen Z’s unofficial rules aren’t capricious—they’re usually about clarity, efficiency, or fairness.
Drop the voicemail, update the emojis, and lose the stray plastic straw.
You’ll communicate faster, tread lighter on the planet, and maybe even spark richer connections across age lines.
Tiny tweaks, big payoff.
Let’s keep evolving—one retired habit at a time.
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