Current Events > New research says young people are confused by periods and scared of them.

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A recent study claims that young people are intimidated by full stops used in social media communication as they're interpreted as a sign of anger.

Teenagers and those in their early twenties who are known as Generation Z - because they've grown up with phones and technology - tend to send shorter messages with very little punctuation.

So when full stops are used in text, younger people often perceive it to be passive aggressive, and a sign of irritation.

According to The Telegraph Leiden Universitys Dr Lauren Fonteyn tweeted: "If you send a text message without a full stop, its already obvious that youve concluded the message. So when they receive a message with a full stop they're concerned the person they're texting is annoyed at them

"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."

A 2015 study from Binghamton University in New York involving 126 undergraduates, found that texts ending with a full stop were perceived as insincere, whereas messages ending with exclamation points are considered more heartfelt.

Research leader Celia Klin explained that when talking in person it's much easier to convey emotion by using facial expressions, changing your tone of voice and eye contact. But these mechanisms can't be used when texting.

Therefore it makes sense that young people use Emojis, slang and punctuation to put across how they're feeling.

Professor David Crystal, one of the world's leading language experts, argues that the meaning behind the usage of full stops is changing fundamentally.

In his book, Making A Point, he writes: "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 goes on to say that full stops are being used as an emotion marker.

This comes after a debate was started by writer Rhiannon Cosslett, who tweeted: "Older people do you realise 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."

Which prompted crime novelist Sophie Hannah to say: "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'".

Full Article: https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/full-stops-intimidate-young-people-22574524

https://i.imgur.com/dAK1kuE.png

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Scary stuff.
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oh my god oh my god oh my god


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Boo. Fucking. Hoo.

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I agree with this. I typically don't end my messages with periods, but I use them throughout my messages. It seems too blunt and too serious for me. I want to make myself seem more fun/playful/not uptight, instead of angry or astute.
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As someone who spends way too much time thinking about specific words to use to describe things, I can relate to this. I still use an awful lot of periods though, sometimes even after a single word because that's how I'd speak. Semicolons are my go tos as a "soft" period.

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This applies to me
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Puglia77 posted...

I want to make myself seem more fun/playful/not uptight, instead of angry or astute.

Whoa, no need to be angry and astute there buddy.

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I... Don't think that's why they're called Generation Z at all.

Also I do find periods to be less warm of a way to end a sentence so I tend to use exclamation marks to demonstrate friendliness or warmness. But I'm a millenninerd

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Man I thought this topic was gonna be about a different kinda period and I was confused af about why they'd be scarier now than to previous generations.

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Exclamation marks makes things feel faker, imo. Cause theres more work involved with them. So it feels like the person is trying too hard.

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I feel like this is one of the reasons I overuse the cross dissolve transition while editing too. Hmm.

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-_-

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Lol I thought you meant puberty

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so... who ends their texts with a period? It's not like young people can't handle reading or anything anymore, its just when you talk is 6 word sentences people tend to ignore punctuation.

If someone feels the need to add a period to their text, I'd feel there had to be a point too.

lmao

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This is why I use em. I always get accused of being angry all the time in person when I'm neutral or joking. So now I can be a tyrant of the online.....

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I mean, anyone who has been on the Internet a long time should know that's been the case for more than a decade.

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Hexenherz posted...

I... Don't think that's why they're called Generation Z at all.

They're called "The iGeneration".

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In my experience, whenever someone uses a period in a text, it actually is an indication of them being angry, or at least irritated.

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Topic title got me worried until it was pointed out that it's only in social media setting. I'd like to believe that people would know better professionally/academically.

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my 3yr old niece used emojis to text us. she uses the pictures on our profile to convey her messages.

like a year later, she was using the phone to text for her. if you didnt use emojis to reply, she says i cant read.

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My dumb ass thought it was talking about the thing women have.
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Proto_Spark posted...

so... who ends their texts with a period? It's not like young people can't handle reading or anything anymore, its just when you talk is 6 word sentences people tend to ignore punctuation.

If someone feels the need to add a period to their text, I'd feel there had to be a point too.

I do.
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BakonBitz posted...

My dumb ass thought it was talking about the thing women have.

me too. i was like im not even scared what are you talking about? just dreading it

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HBOSS posted...

my 3yr old niece used emojis to text us. she uses the pictures on our profile to convey her messages.

like a year later, she was using the phone to text for her. if you didnt use emojis to reply, she says i cant read.

You need to teach your 3 yr old niece how to write sentences to convey her feelings.

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HBOSS posted...

my 3yr old niece used emojis to text us. she uses the pictures on our profile to convey her messages.

like a year later, she was using the phone to text for her. if you didnt use emojis to reply, she says i cant read.

Depressing
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I think it's more that the youngins haven't learned where periods and commas are supposed to go, so they get confused and just don't use them.

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That's crazy.

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SkittyOnWailord posted...

I think it's more that the youngins haven't learned where periods and commas are supposed to go, so they get confused and just don't use them.

They do, instead of periods they just speak in seperate lines for each sentence

toyota posted...

They do, instead of periods they just speak in seperate lines for each sentence

That doesn't explain the lack of commas.

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Makes sense in texts which are often really short lines. Imagine if you're talking to someone in real life and all they do is respond in firm short sentences. The lack of period indicates an openness to continue the conversation for chats. "Confused and scared" is a stupid way of putting it. It'd be like saying "new research says people are confused by capital letters and scared of them." for messages in all caps.

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Newspeak.

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