Texting is something I have trouble with, because just about anything you can say can be taken so many different ways, whether it be punctuation or the difference between "Ok," "K," and "Okay." Turns out, I'm not alone.

According to Gen Z'ers "Older People" consider the use of a period normal practice of grammar, but Gen Z and Millennials have said it can be seen as hostility.

"Only old people or troubled souls put periods at the end of every sentence," Victoria Turk said in her book on digital etiquette, Kill Reply All.

The two younger generations consider the act of sending a text the completion of a thought, so a period feels unnecessary and overly final.

“The thing is, in a messaging conversation, a period is simply not necessary,” she explained. “It’s clear when you’ve finished your thought already, so what function does the period fulfill? As a result, using a period in messaging now looks rather emphatic, and can come across as if you’re quite cross or annoyed," Turk said.

It's essentially the difference between:

  • It's fine
  • It's fine.

One seems more serious, where the other could be more informal, like "Hey man, it's all good" as opposed to "It's fine."

“Older people — do you realize that ending a sentence with a full stop comes across as sort of abrupt and unfriendly to younger people in an email/chat? Genuinely curious,” Turk asked in now deleted Tweet.

So, use a period, or don't. Just know whoever you're talking to might get offended by a small dot.

Read more at New York Post

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