![\"Words](\"https:\/\/www.uncommongoods.pro\/blog\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/18868_WordsCubed_UK.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nText messaging has changed the way we communicate, and somewhere during that time, the lowly period gained a somewhat snarky nuance. Linguistic professors have found that in digital communication, including chat windows and texts, the default is to end your thought just by stopping. Because of this, if one chooses to use a period, the reader is left to wonder why\u2014and the assumption is usually that it\u2019s negative. Why is this? Over time, as the written word began to gain autonomy from the spoken word, punctuation became a way to show the reader what was most important in the text. Only the question mark and exclamation point were ever used to indicate \u201ctone.\u201d Now, however, technology has asked us to apply the written word to real time. In other words, it needs to be more like speech. \u201cPeople are communicating like they are talking, but encoding that talk in writing,\u201d says author and NYU professor Clay Shirky. This may be why the line break has taken the place of a simple period. It lets people emulate in writing the rhythm of their speech. So in the text world, the period is superfluous\u2014meaning that when you text your boss to them you\u2019ll be a little late, a simple \u201cokay.\u201d in response sends you into a cold sweat.<\/p>\n