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Text abbreviations make you look less sincere

A new study suggests that people who abbreviate their text messages might seem insincere. In addition, they might be less likely to receive replies. Researchers from Stanford University in the USA and the University of Toronto in Canada analyzed 5,000 text messages to gauge the impact of abbreviations. Test participants had to rate their perceived sincerity of messages with and without abbreviations. They also evaluated their likelihood of responding. The researchers said: "Abbreviations make senders seem less sincere and recipients less likely to write back." They added: "Abbreviations signal a lower level of effort from the sender."

Abbreviations in text messages and social media comments have evolved into a distinct genre of writing. The first text message was sent in 1992. Since then, a system of abbreviated text has developed that is largely understood and widely used. Many abbreviations are now in dictionaries. Truncated terms like "fyi," "cul8r," and "imho" are commonplace in text messages. Of course, these mean "for your information," "see you later," and "in my humble opinion". Researcher David Fang said: "We thought texters might like abbreviations because they would convey an informal sense of closeness, so we were surprised that abbreviations elicited negative perceptions about people who use them."

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Chat

Talk about these words from the article.

/ study / abbreviation / text messages / impact / sincerity likelihood / write / effort / social media / genre of writing / dictionaries / opinion / texters / closeness / sense

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Discussion

1) What do you think about what you read?

2) What do you think of the new genre of abbreviation-based writing?

3) What do you think of social media?

4) Do you ever not understand the abbreviations in texts?

5) How will abbreviations change the future of writing?

6) What are the dangers of using abbreviations?

7) Do abbreviations show a degree of closeness between people?

8) What questions would you like to ask the researchers?