Dad shows the new hand gesture his kids use to show they’re on the phone

Phones have evolved quite a bit over the years, with today’s smartphones completely different from early cell phones and landlines.

So with the look and shape of phones changing so dramatically, it seems it was only a matter of time before the universal gesture for talking on the phone — pinky and thumb up, three middle fingers down, hand held up to the face — became unrecognizable to younger generations.

For New York City father-of-two Daniel Alvarado, discovering that his two children used an entirely different gesture for the phone was shocking — and his video on the subject has left TikTokers feeling shocked, outraged, and deeply uncomfortable. 

New York City father-of-two Daniel Alvarado shared a viral TikTok video showing how some kids today do a handle gesture for talking on the phone

The traditional way: First, he asked his wife to show which hand gesture she’d use. She held her thumb to her ear and her pinky to her mouth

Wait a minute! He then asked his tween daughter, who held a flat palm up to her face

In the family: His son did the same flat-handed gesture

‘This is how you know you’re getting old,’ Daniel said in the viral clip, which has been viewed nearly two million times in just a day.

First, he approached his wife Marciella, asking her to show the hand gesture she’d use to pretend she was talking on the phone.

Unsurprisingly, Marciella held her thumb and pink to her eat and mouth. 

He then approached his tween daughter Daniella, who was busy playing on her own phone on the couch.

When he told her to show him the gesture she’s use, Daniella holds a completely flat hand up to the side of her face, the palm facing her ear.

Wild! Commenters were not loving the discovery, though some had their own epiphanies as a result

Hold on: Not everyone has been blown away though. Some commenters have expressed doubt, saying they’ve ‘literally NEVER seen any young people gesturing a phone like that’

He gives the same prompt to his teen son Kamilo, who is also playing on his phone. Kamila does the same flat-handed gesture as his sister.

Daniel concluded the video by showing that his mind was blown by the discovery — and the millions of viewers who have watched the clip feel the same way.

‘I don’t like this, nope not one bit,’ wrote one commenter.

On Instagram, another admitted that her six-year-old did the full hand gesture, while one more wrote: ‘This is actually mind blowing… and sad lol.’

‘Oh my god that generational ‘phone’ hand gesture thing I never even thought about that. It’s like how everything became rectangles, even gestures are losing their silhouette,’ remarked a Twitter user. 

On Instagram, another admitted that her six-year-old did the full hand gesture, while one more wrote: ‘This is actually mind blowing… and sad lol’

Some had their own technology epiphanies. One woman noted that her son must not know what she means when she tells him to ‘hang up the phone,’ and another said her kids have asked her why she makes a circular cranking motion to get someone to roll down a window.

Not everyone has been blown away though. Some commenters have expressed doubt, saying they’ve ‘literally NEVER seen any young people gesturing a phone like that.’

‘I’m 14 and I don’t know a single person who does that flat hand thing,’ wrote one.

‘I was born in the 00’s but I do the one with the thumb and pink lol,’ wrote another.