Ask Gen Z
Be more case sensitive.
They could have entire conversations with barely any words at all: sup?
If someone uses the laugh-cry emoji, its like, OK, Im questioning your sense of humor.
No one laughs like that.
Millennials can come across as cold, Bumba says of the vibe they give off in digital correspondence.
Below, Bumba tells Bustle how to bring emotion into your texting game without increasing your word count.
I often notice Gen Z doesnt capitalize texts.
What kind of message does that send compared with, like, regular capitalization?
Ive had my phone in automatic lowercase for years.
Using proper capitalization is just aggressive.
If youre sending a work email, use proper capitalization.
But all caps are a no unless its completely obvious that youre not mad.
Ill use all caps to say SCREAMING if Im really excited or surprised.
If we cant use the laugh-cry emoji anymore, what can we use when something is funny?
Ill do the crying emoji with the skull and crossbones.
The laugh-cry emoji is generic.
Its not a representation of how anyone is reacting, which is why we dont use it.
Back in the AOL days, if you typed LOL you might actually be laughing out loud.
But now, it means youre being passive-aggressive or have nothing to say.
Im more likely to say LMAO spelled out, el-em-ay-oh in person where I can control how its conveyed.
Are voice notes useful or annoying?
I prefer to just hear what someone has to say on my own time.
I can press play and walk away from my phone and fold laundry.
But a lot of people get anxiety about their voice, so they dont like to use them.
Theyre also less incriminating.
We live in screenshot era.
If Im really spilling the tea, Ill make a phone call.
Does this awareness change the way you use your phone?
What you see is what you get with me, so I dont edit my phone.
But some people get nervous about other people holding their phones.
It makes the other person feel like you dont care about what they said or dont want to engage.
How do you keep a conversation going when the other person isnt engaging?
I pull out a random experience that happened to me so that we can talk about something.
Theyll either laugh or ask me about it and then were actually talking.
Whats the biggest thing that millennials get wrong about texting?
They dont realize that speaking too properly with capitalization or no emotion makes the other person feel judged.
Act how you feel.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
This article was originally published onNovember 16, 2021
