Woman Shares Experience Living in Dorms as 30-Year-Old College Student

A comedian has gone viral on TikTok for sharing her experience living among "Gen-Zs" as a 30-year-old college student at the Savannah College for Art and Design in Georgia.

TikToker @Genwhyscarlett, whose first name is Scarlett, started sharing "s**t Gen Z kids say" to her account late last year and since then has made 10 installments which have all wracked up thousands of views.

Scarlett told Newsweek in an email that living in the dorms was a financial decision.

"When I decided to uproot my life, go back to school and follow my dreams, I applied to be an RA [Resident Assistant] so that I could be eligible for more financial aid and have my housing taken care of," she said.

She said a big part of that decision was the fact that RAs do not have roommates.

In a slight departure from the regular "s**t Gen Z kids say" series, Scarlett posted a video on Tuesday that shared the meanings behind a slew of emojis according to her younger peers.

"The following emojis don't mean what I thought they mean," she said in the video now viewed over 2 million times.

According to 2021 data from the Education Data Initiative, just 5.2 percent of college students are between the ages of 30-34. The vast majority of college students are under the age of 24.

Scarlett told Newsweek that she immediately noticed the difference in communication styles and social rules between her and her college peers.

"This is a whole generation that has never known a world without social media and that bleeds into everything they do, say, and how they socialize," she said. "Group chats are a huge part of that. I don't take myself very seriously, so I am always asking questions with absolutely no shame. The first phrase I remember being completely lost on was 'No Cap' and I was like, 'yes, you are correct I am not wearing a hat today.'"

"No cap," means that something is true—or not a lie.

In her recent video, Scarlett starts off by explaining a simple "thumbs up" emoji.

"This is apparently very passive-aggressive these days, so if you get this, be insulted immediately," she said.

Later in the video, she showed an emoji sticking its tongue out which she said "still means silly, but more in a tongue in cheek way," she said.

"They call it 'silly, goofy mood,'" Scarlett said.

Throughout the video, Scarlett explained the meaning behind 10 different emojis that she has pop up on the screen beside her.

"I also found out that you shouldn't be using any emoji with teeth in it because it's 'cringe' and you should not be using the 'mind blown' emoji because that's also 'cringe,'" she said at the end of the video.

"You're welcome, everyone," she concluded.

Scarlett told Newsweek that while she is a performer she tries to keep the content she shares as authentic as possible and asks permission before sharing what someone has said.

"I keep my notes app handy at all times and then use those for my next video idea. There are a few times I took a word or a phrase and crafted it into something they would say," she said. "While I am a writer and a performer, much of my comedy comes from observing other people and finding what is fun or interesting about behavior that they themselves view as normal."

Over 11,000 people have commented on her recent video with many commiserating over the confusion of these newfound meanings.

"Ok but can @Duolingo do a course on this?" one person wrote.

"I'm so confused and I don't understand please send help," said another.

Another chimed in by saying: "Doing the lord's work for the millennials on the clock app."

Scarlett said to her surprise, she does enjoy living in a dorm setting among younger peers though did note one downside.

"It's absolutely destroyed my dating life, but it's helped me focus on what I'm doing and what I'm here for," she said.

"As adults, you don't usually talk to or even know your neighbors so to be back in a place where we are all in the same situation, it's really comforting," she said.