I use it at least 10 times a day.įor a long time, however, I used it with some difficulty. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ represents nihilism, “bemused resignation,” and “a Zen-like tool to accept the chaos of universe.” It is Sisyphus in unicode. With raised arms and a half-turned smile, it exudes the melancholia, the malaise, the acceptance, and (finally) the embrace of knowing that something’s wrong on the Internet and you can’t do anything about it.Īs Kyle Chayka writes in a new history of the symbol at The Awl, the meaning of the “the shruggie” is always two-, if not three- or four-, fold.
In its 11 strokes, the symbol encapsulates what it’s like to be an individual on the Internet.