[LINK] "Texting brings out passive-aggressive in people"

[rfmcdonald]

The Toronto Star hosted Aimee Blanchette' Minneapolis Star Tribune article noting how, ultimately, texting is an impoverished form of communication that leaves much too much open to question.

This modern convenience easily can morph into an anxiety-ridden mystery as you look for signs behind a text’s real meaning, question nonsensical acronyms and wonder if using an exclamation mark or a period will change the receiver’s interpretation of your text. (The answer is yes.)

“These delicate decisions consume far too much of my attention, so much that a brief exchange of texts or emails can leave me psychologically depleted for the rest of the day,” said Paul Scott, 52, of Rochester, Minn. “The exclamation point seems to have become officially required in order to not look like you have produced a passive-aggressive text.”

[. . .]

“Yes” doesn’t mean “yes!” “K” signals annoyance and “hi.” with a period usually means, “We need to talk and you’re probably not going to like what I have to say.”

“Texts have such a variety of meanings with a simple change of punctuation,” said Sara Kerr, a business professor at St. Catherine University. “Text messaging makes passive-aggressiveness worse in the same way Internet comment boards breed nasty trolls and vitriolic comments.”

Even when we try to be direct in our messages, texting is limiting. Without facial expressions, body language and the tone of someone’s voice, we often assume the worst.

“There’s so much misunderstanding that occurs through this medium just because there’s not a universal approach to it,” said Luke Youngvorst, a doctoral student/instructor at the University of Minnesota. “There is ambiguity to texting and we’re left to our own perceptions.”