5 Ways To Be More Sensitive In Text; or, How To Avoid A Pointless Fight

Are you being ‘misunderstood’ a lot? Here’s some tips

I’ll avoid waving my arms and proclaiming the importance of syntax, semantics, and code switching like a deranged English teacher and just get straight to it: we are now at a point where most of us communicate primarily through reading and writing. This means that tone and context are largely a matter of interpretation. And that means falling out over pointless, stupid grammar issues. Here’s what I’ve noticed about communication errors and what to do. Looking directly at you, parents in the Whatsapp group.

Full stops: try not to use them at all where possible

This is mostly generational, but full stops (periods for our American friends) are, for most of us under 30, used for denoting annoyance, coldness, rudeness, or formality. Try “Hi- sorry for not responding- thanks! Hope you are well’. Unless it’s in the middle…