>it happened.. there are people who say yikes irl ( ´ ～`)
It was always said. I used to often say/type it myself - both in the classic "expression of surprise/horror" sense and "reacting to or empathizing with something unpleasant/unfortunate" sense

It just became "a thing" in recent years on certain sites to (over)use it as a sassy, one-word disapproval, which then started being parodied on places like 4chan - and now the word is ruined for everyone