TEXT MESSAGES WITH A PERIOD ARE READ AS “LESS SINCERE”

Text messages ending with a period may be grammatically correct, but they come across as insincere, according to a new study published in “Computers in Human Behavior” from researchers at Binghamton University in New York. The researchers studied a whopping 126 college undergraduates. The students were given messages that appeared as texts or handwritten notes. Each of the notes contained a statement ending in a period, followed by asking the recipient if they would like to join them for an event. For example: “Dave gave me his extra tickets. Wanna come?” The recipient then sent back an affirmative one word answer, which in some cases ended in a period and others did not have any punctuation. Researchers found that participants rated the text messages that ended in a period as less sincere than those that did not.
* Earth-shaking stuff, for sure.
* Here’s a suggestion: not every study has to be released to the public, okay?
* And what does this Dave guy think of all this?
* And how’d he get extra tickets for 126 people and their friends?
* I think Dave stole the tickets.
* Maybe that’s why the people who are texting want to keep kind of at arm’s length from the whole thing.
* What about the grammatical correctness of “Wanna come”?
* I could say I was impressed but then I’D be less than sincere.
* No – wait. This is about computers and social media. That makes it trendy.
* I bet it was one of those percentage things. You know: 15% said one thing and 30% said another. I know how they play this game.
* Then the headline screams “People Using Periods in Text Messages Twice as Likely To Be Taken Less Sincerely.”
* This study was so shaky they didn’t even bother to put on the phony white lab coats first.