I Love You, Period

Megan Gerhardt • July 7, 2024

I Love You, Period

Passive aggressive, or just correct grammar?

BREAKING NEWS

Never before has my role as generational translator been as important as it is at this moment. Right now, your Gen Z employee may be panicking that they have somehow messed up. Questioning their career future. All because we included a PERIOD in a text message.

That’s right. If you are Over 30, you must learn what I learned yesterday: when you use a period in your texts, Gen Z finds this “harsh”, “scary”, and “passive aggressive”.

I learned this reading a research paper my sophomore students wrote for my class talking about generational differences in workplace communication. They said the use of a period in texting was “harsh” and “sour”. I headed straight for Instagram, my informal source of much Gen Z intel:


Never before have I received such a response from an Instagram story

and the Zs responded in force:

“I can confirm”

“This is true LOL”

“I feel this deeply”

Note my use of the Gentelligence® power phrase: “Help me understand…”


Exclamation points=totally fun


Kudos to my 16 year-old niece Gwen for the Gentelligence®

If you are Under 30, you must learn this: if the person texting you is over 30 and their text ends with a period, they aren’t mad at you, they are just…using punctuation. (I have inquired about the undertone of an ellipsis, stay tuned).

Never fear, it’s only punctuation…

This is why I created Gentelligence®. Imagine the misinterpretations raging this morning as we speak! Gen Zs wondering what they did wrong and Gen Xers like me over here wondering what has happened to punctuation and society.

It might seem like a little thing, but generational communication differences is one of the most common questions I get from my clients.

Sharing with permission, check out the responses from my Gen Z content creator, my former students, and most eloquently, my 16 year-old niece. I told them I must bring this intel to my people.

Spread the word on both sides of the age continuum. My work continues.

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