Young People Are ‘Intimidated’ By Periods At The End Of Sentences, Expert Claims

Young People Are ‘Intimidated’ By Periods At The End Of Sentences, Expert Claims

Young people are apparently “intimidated” by the use of periods at the ends of sentences on texting and social media as they seem “abrupt or angry.” While members of Generation Z do tend to communicate in shorter sentences and use more emojis, experts claim that proper punctuation is extremely off-putting to them. Oh boy!

  1. Periods at the end of a sentence can be passive-aggressive. Think about it: if you usually text without any punctuation and you suddenly add a period, that can indeed be a passive-aggressive way to let someone know that you’re pissed off. However, young people apparently see any use of periods as a “sign of irritation.”
  2. It’s a way of closing down the conversation. As The Telegraph reported, Leiden University’s Dr Lauren Fonteyn tweeted: “If you send a text message without a full stop, it’s already obvious that you’ve concluded the message. So if you add that additional marker for completion, they will read something into it and it tends to be a falling intonation or negative tone.”
  3. People also think periods that end sentences are “insincere.” A 2015 study performed by New York’s Binghamton University that included 126 students found that ending a text with a period made the message come off as disingenuous whereas those that ended with an exclamation point were more good-natured and genuine. Go figure!
  4. The meaning of punctuation is changing over time. One of the world’s most prominent language experts, Professor David Crystal, says that these days, periods are only used in texts or on social media if you’re intentionally trying to get a message across. “You look at the internet or any instant messaging exchange – anything that is a fast dialogue taking place. People simply do not put full stops in, unless they want to make a point,” he wrote in his book Making A Point.
  5. Yes, this is really a thing. As Guardian columnist Rhiannon Coslett said in a now-deleted tweet, “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.” Novelist Sophie Hannah then confirmed, replying, “Just asked 16-year-old son – apparently this is true. If he got a message with full stops at the end of sentences he’d think the sender was ‘weird, mean or too blunt.'” Go figure!
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