 GIF 
 
 Language evolves at break neck speed on the internet; what’s cool one minute is lame by the next. Case in point: “LOL” is dying. A Facebook report claims that LOL is now one of the least popular ways to express laughter on the social network. Why? Probably because of mom. 
 
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 The waning popularity of LOL correlates with aging demographics. In other words, only old people are using LOL these days, presumably because it was popular in the internet’s early days but is now falling out fashion as emoji becomes the universal language of youths. However, variations of “haha” and “hehe” are still the most popular expressions of laughter. 
 
 Poor LOL. 
 
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 The Facebook report fails to consider the ironic use of expressions like LOL or even haha, but the data doesn’t lie. Lots of people on Facebook have abandoned LOL, and those who do use LOL are older. Is this because old people like your mom think it’s still cool or can’t figure out how to find the emoji keyboard or maybe it’s because your mom thinks LOL stands for “lots of love?” 
 
 There are plenty of ways to explain why LOL has fallen out of fashion—but one thing is for sure: LOLers are getting older as emoji takes over. Rest in peace LOL. Long live 😂. 
 
 [Facebook via Gizmodo UK]
– A recent New Yorker essay about online laughter prompted Facebook to crunch data on how people actually express a chuckle in the ether. It's probably not a big surprise to find out that LOL is no longer the phrase of choice, but it might be surprising at just how far the old standby has fallen. In a week's worth of posts in May, just 1.9% of people who expressed laughter did so via LOL. Meanwhile, the undisputed the champion is "haha" (including variations such as "hahaha") at 51.4%, followed by the use of emoji at 33.7%, and "hehe" at 13.3%. Some other takeaways: 15% of people indicated laughter in at least one post or comment Residents of Chicago and New York prefer emoji, while those in San Francisco and Seattle like "haha" More men use "haha" and "hehe," while more women use emoji So what's going on? It's not too complicated. "Only old people are using LOL these days, presumably because it was popular in the internet’s early days but is now falling out fashion as emoji becomes the universal language of youths," observes Adam Clark Estes at Gizmodo. Dig into more charts at Facebook.