Here's a new trend: Would you be more offended if you were driving to work and someone gave you the FINGER . . . or a THUMBS DOWN?
Young people are supposedly ditching the bird, and giving drivers a thumbs down instead. They claim it's more effective.
Someone talked to a bunch of Millennials and Gen Z'ers about it. Their basic argument is it's not as rude or crass, but actually more hurtful.
One person described it like this: It's the equivalent of telling someone, "I'm not mad, I'm DISAPPOINTED."
Flipping someone off is also aggressive. So when you do it, their natural reaction is to get defensive and think YOU'RE a jerk. But a thumbs down keeps the focus on them. It's a crystal-clear statement that THEY did something wrong.
Another person compared it to pushing someone's "personal DISLIKE button." And according to a body language expert, that actually might have a lot to do with why it's trending.
Thumbs down has become the universal sign of disapproval on sites like Reddit and YouTube. So we have a much stronger reaction to it than we used to.