Through the years and how technology of smartphones has developed with our generation, our view on punctuation has somehow changed… when texting. Some sentences might be over-thought just because someone put a period, even though that’s how you’re supposed to end a sentence. People remember how other people text, like their friends. When their friends type with different punctuation then usual they think they might be angry or sad.

Read these this phrase: “Omg you are so annoying!!!” 

Our generations’ minds have been trained to think our friends might be mad at us just because of the way they texted us something. Or we think someones upset because they texted us differently.  When you read the phrase, How did you interpret it? Did it sound angry? Jokingly? Sarcastic? 

Why don’t we just use normal punctuation? Why do we edit our punctuation in texting in the first place? We use extra punctuation sometimes for no reason. For example, extra exclamation points. 

In Jessica Bennett’s New York Times article she explains how punctuation and how people use it can change the way they seem or how they feel about you:

“He didn’t just use the lazy singular dash (“-”) as a pause between his thoughts, or even the more time-consuming double-dash (“–”). Nope. This man used a proper em dash. That is, the kind that required him to hold down the dash button on his iPhone for that extra second, until the “—” appeared, then choose it from among three options. I don’t remember what his messages actually said. But he obviously really liked me.” 

Our minds think too hard sometimes. Especially when it comes to social media or texting. What if we just use regular punctuation on social media? Would we still think too hard about how we would come across to the other person if we put a period? We shouldn’t have to worry about that. A single punctuation mark shouldn’t change the way  we think someone feels about us. Technology has tricked our minds into over complicating things as simple as sentences. 

Using normal punctuation can also be helpful and it’s a good habit to have anyway. 

So, start using normal punctuation when you text. That doesn’t mean you can’t use acronyms like “omg” or “lol”. It just means don’t do three exclamation points, just do one. Put a period at the end of your sentence, use commas, etc. Yes it may be easier to not have to put a period at the end of your sentence or to not have to put a comma, but it’s the right way to do things. Also, this way our minds won’t be thinking so hard about how someone feels through their punctuation.