Popular Emoji Use By Age, 2025
graph from Eve Washington, Larry Buchanan, Claire Cain Miller/New York Times; slow reveal by Jenna Laib
Type of Graph: line graphs
Purpose
This slow reveal is designed to support analysis and discussion of both the data and the design choices. The questions in the slide deck invite learners to identify trends, estimate values, and compare and contrast two different data visualizations. What is the same? What is different? What information might be missing?
About This Graph
This visualization is not provided for reuse or redistribution. Readers and educators are encouraged to view the original visualization in its published context.
Data Visualization Sources:
Washington, Eve, Larry Buchanan, and Claire Cain Miller. “😭 or 😂: Do Your Emojis Make You Look Old?” The New York Times, Aug 12, 2026.
Accessed at https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/08/12/upshot/emoji-generations.html
Leer en español: https://www.nytimes.com/es/interactive/2026/08/14/espanol/emojis-significado-edad.html
Data Sources:
Reddit: Academic Torrents
stuck_in_the_matrix, W. R.. (2026). Reddit comments/submissions 2005-06 to 2025-12 [Data set]. Academic Torrents. https://academictorrents.com/details/3d426c47c767d40f82c7ef0f47c3acacedd2bf44
Note: months with fewer than 150 comments containing emojis have been included, and “emoji dump” threads (where users are encouraged to post a large number of emojis) have been filtered out.
Google: Federated Analytics
Note: this contains anonymous use of the GBoard (default keyboard on Android devices), November 2024 to January 2025 and November 2025 to January 2026.
In The Classroom
There are many different mathematical connections that can be made to this data and data visualization.
Potential Math Content: line graphs, percentages, change over time, compare and contrast, scale along the y-axis, estimating values, different scales, averages, data collection methodology, tables, steepness, rate of change
Potential Content Connections: language, age, generations, Gen Alpha, Gen X, Gen-Z, Millennials, emojis
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