Comment by mezzie2

I'd say another generational issue here is that informal digital communication is often seen as 'unprofessional' by the older generations in a way informal in person conversations are not. If you greet someone with a high five and a 'how's it hanging?' in person, that's fine and you making connections, but if you use emoji/abbreviations/gifs/deliberately are informal in your digital communication, it's 'unprofessional'. The only reference points the elders in the office have for digital communication is email: The most formal of digital communication media.

I'm a core/elder Millennial and there's a wide gulf in how I communicate in a Teams chat with my immediate team versus how I communicate via email to an external party. I find that a lot of Gen X+ people bring a really sterile, HR approved vibe to all their digital communications and then complain there's no way to build relationships. (Not all - my supervisor is a Gen X former teacher and he manages informal digital communication fine, as do the few Gen X and Boomer coworkers who've been online for decades.)