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People think adding periods at the end of text messages indicates aggressiveness.
As an English major, and a fan of writing, I find this assumption confusing. I would understand if someone was aggressive by putting an exclamation mark. But I have difficulty understanding why texters dislike it when they receive texts that end with a period.
We use periods to indicate the end of a sentence, and prevent phrases from becoming a tiresome run-on sentence.
Proponents of avoiding adding periods at the end of texts state we do not normally have personal conversations in complete sentences, let alone as if we were in a well-written novel. Text messaging, after all, is not supposed to be a way for writers to sharpen their writing skills--although, that is how I have handled texting--it is a way we communicate in its simplistic terms.
But plenty of people who add periods do not mean to indicate aggressiveness. Some people end texts with periods because it is how they have been raised to construct a sentence. If they neglect periods, they fear they risk losing their capabilities of forming a complete sentence. So, just because texters normally dislike it when they receive a message that ends with a period, does not mean to be too judgmental.
I am not saying we should ALL have to interpret periods at the end of texts. We can inform each other if we are not okay with periods at the end of texts. I am arguing that we should not make it an official rule of texting--if official rulings about texting exists.
I have ended nearly every texts with a period for the past six years, and I have never once been scorned for it. As a writer, I am hard-wired towards adding periods at the end of every complete sentences. Like I said, texting has provided me a sufficient way of keeping my writing skills in check. In fact, I have been complimented a few times for "talking" (texting) like a novelist.
So, while we are allowed to have our personal rules about etiquette in texting, But do we all need to make it a rule to prevent adding periods at the end of texting? Aren't we reading a bit much into periods? After all, it's just a little dot to end a complete sentence.
Grammatically speaking, adding periods (/full stops) to the end of a text is okay, however socially it has grown not to be okay. Younger generations see such a practice as aggressive, most likely because it implies the end of a conversation. The domineering full stop puts a sharp finish to the flow of conversation.
A definition of a full stop is: (1) a punctuation mark (.) used at the end of a sentence or an abbreviation and (2) used to suggest that there is nothing more to say on a topic.
It is this second definition that causes people to shy away from finishing text messages with a full stop. People don't wish to abruptly and forcefully assert that the topic has been exhausted and the dialogue is over.
Dr Fonteyn, a language change professor at Netherlands Leiden' University writes, "If you add that additional marker for completion, [younger people] will read something into it and it tends to be a falling intonation or negative tone". And so it has become a sort of 'emotion marker' that signifies annoyance or anger meaning its role in text messages has changed from that of formal writing.
Therefore, although it may be linguistically permissible to use a full stop at the end of a text, it is increasingly less so in a social sense. Ludwig Wittgenstein, a German philosopher, developed an important theory of language that can be applied here. He argued that words, sentences (and in this case, punctuation), has a certain meaning based of the context in which it is in because we apply different 'rules' in different 'games'.
Resultantly, it is increasingly not socially 'okay' to put a period at the end of a text in the same way as a novel because the rules of the language game are different.
Nelson, Alex. (2020) 'Young people are 'intimidated' by full stops in text messages - here’s the psychology explained', Yorkshire Post. Available at: https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/read-this/young-people-are-intimidated-full-stops-text-messages-heres-psychology-explained-2951084
Wittgenstein, Ludwig. (1953) Philosophical Investigations. Oxford: Blackwell.
Texting should be closer to speaking than to writing. Though you don’t give off the same types of social cues through texts, periods are a writing-specific device and simply do not translate well in texts. Emails should have periods in them, but texting is so much more informal!
Psychologists at Binghamton University in New York studied the use of periods in texts and concluded that texting is an activity that happens rapidly back and forth. Periods create pauses and are nowhere close to an emotion-like social cue such as an emoji or multiple letters to signify stresses on certain parts of words.
The pause signified by a period creates an unnecessary silence in the conversation. Over text, silence occurs naturally when you hit send and wait for a response. Silence is already somewhat of a barrier in that case and shouldn’t be implied any more than it already is.
Just having this (online) conversation shows why periods shouldn’t be in texts. It creates an unnecessary worry in an activity that should be making communication easier and more enjoyable. We shouldn’t have to think about it.
https://www.thoughtco.com/leave-period-out-of-text-messages-4022990
Do you think that this is the case because we have come to associate periods with certain kinda of meaning? I think that the kinds of punctuation we use when texting can convey intent, change meaning, and tell a lot about how you speak with people. This, however, can be misleading, especially if the person does not know you.
I agree.
It seems there is so much hidden meaning in the way a text is sent and it concerns me that intent is misconstrued,
certainly for my generation not familiar with this. I am told emoji can mean different things to what I imagine them too.
Who invents these rules, why aren't they universally understood?
Some of them are, but others I guess depend on age, culture, intent, etc.
Certainly. When researching for why people feel that it's bad texting manners to add periods at the end of texts, I came across an article on Lifehacker by Elizabeth Yuko. She explains that periods in text messages, as opposed to general writing, take on different meanings because it is not something that texters normally do. So, when texters do something that is not normal, such as adding a period at the end of a text message, people tend to read into that. For instance, the difference between sending a text that says "Hey" and "Hey." is that the former conveys excitement, whereas the latter conveys serious and anxiety because one does not normally add a text with a period.
In short, simple statements like "Hey", then I argue it is reasonable to not add periods at the end of texts. But in text messages that contain short sentences then I argue we have no reason to read too much into a period at the end of a text.
I mean it when I say it and there's nothing more to add. Period.
Wow. This is actually a thing? I mean... :/
I use a period depending on the context. Most of the time, I leave it off to leave the conversation loose, casual, and open. But when I'm trying to make a point, I end it with a period. So yeah, maybe it is a bit aggressive? But it doesn't mean I'm being aggressive towards the person I'm texting. I might just be making a statement in general -- and at that point, if we're texting back and forth, and you don't know from the context of the conversation when I'm doing that, then I'm sorry, I can't help you learn basic communication skills...
These are the same skills we learn in face-to-face or over-the-phone conversations, people. It's called using context clues to figure out what people mean. Learn how to adapt this to the new format, and stop making baseless assumptions on someone's level of "aggression" -- especially if you know that person well enough to be able to tell the difference.
I know a lot of people aren't going to like me saying this, but it all seems like a case of people being over-sensitive, tbh.
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