5 Emojis That Can Cause Misunderstandings Across Generations and Cultures

5 Emojis That Can Cause Misunderstandings Across Generations and Cultures. You may be surprised to learn that emojis have been around since 1997 when they were first introduced on Japanese mobile phones, but it wasn’t until the early 2010s that they really started to take off in popularity. Since then, almost everyone with a mobile phone has used emojis at some point, though it seems like Generation Z is the final authority on each emoji.