Have your parents or senior relatives ever sent you a text message that wasn't quite clear? Perhaps it could come out as shortened phrases, a pack of words that made you confused, or a tone devoid of excitement? Here are some examples of it:

 

“Thx…”

“U Wnt to go? OK.”

 

When we talked about the older generation, this includes Gen X and Baby Boomers who have a reason for being tonally off while texting. This could be a problem for them because they are used to communicating verbally to express themselves in their younger days. 

 

When it comes to writing, they are limited to writing on postcards, letters, and diaries. Additionally, messaging via Short Message Service (SMS) was limited to earlier phone models. In a constrained space, they learn to write succinctly and divide two ideas with an ellipsis (the triple dot...).

 

For this reason, the elderly see texting as a practical medium to simply communicate their thoughts. On the other hand, the younger generation uses texting to show their personality. Growing up with technology, the younger generation learns to express tone of voice through text better than any generation before. They give text messages more significance and value, and they also use emoticons, slang, and line breaks to express digital body language.

 

Here’s a short texting guide for boomers:

Learning these differences in our society allows us to communicate better and not overthink what an older person texted us. 

 

So… Show this post to your mom… maybe…?