If you're not the type to end your texts with kisses or a string of emojis, chances are you've been hurting people every time you send a message. According to a study led by Binghamton University's Celia Klin, ending your message with a simple full stop makes you basically heartless. Or grammatically correct.
Researches found this after presenting a group of 126 undergraduates - and, no doubt, keen texters - with a series of conversations in the form of either a text or a handwritten note. Each exchange began with an invitation, followed by a short reply, with some replies featuring the dreaded character known as a full stop.
When a reply ended in a full stop, subjects rated the message as less sincere. Interestingly, this was only in text messages and not handwritten notes. Klin and her team believe this is an indication that the full stop has a larger meaning, and is basically a weapon designed to psychologically slay your friends.
That doesn't sound very nice, does it? But follow-up research suggests you can make amends with your pals by swapping those nasty full stops with exclamation marks.
Question is, why is a full-stop more offensive than an exclamation mark? Klin says the lack of social cues in texting are to blame. She said in a statement:
"Texting is lacking many of the social cues used in actual face-to-face conversations. When speaking, people easily convey social and emotional information with eye gaze, facial expressions, tone of voice, pauses, and so on. People obviously can't use these mechanisms when they are texting. Thus, it makes sense that texters rely on what they have available to them — emoticons, deliberate misspellings that mimic speech sounds and, according to our data, punctuation."
On that note, let us please assure you that, while we will be ending this news story with a full stop, we intend no harm. We're just not that keen on exclamation marks.