My millennial cousin told me to stop using 'lol' and just say what I mean

She said it was a millennial tell and made my texts sound dated, so I tried it for a week. I sent a message to my group chat saying 'that's funny' instead of 'lol' and they all asked if I was mad at them. It totally backfired because my Gen Z friends read tone completely different. Has anyone else had a texting style tip blow up in their face?

3 comments

3 Comments

rubyschmidt23d ago

Understand your cousin meant well, but policing how people laugh online misses the point. These little shortcuts are how we show our tone in a text, which has no voice or face. Taking them out leaves a vacuum, and people will fill it with worry, like your friends did. The goal is to be understood by the people you're talking to, not to follow some made up rule about what's dated. Your Gen Z friends proved the real rule is to talk in a way that connects with your actual crowd.

quinn_wood23d ago

Totally agree with @rubyschmidt. My own texts are a mess of "lol" and "haha" just to stop people from thinking I'm mad at them. My cousin told me my laugh reacts are cringe, but then I stopped and my mom called to ask if I was okay. Can't win. The right tone is whatever keeps your group chat from spiraling into a panic.

zara_kelly2717d ago

See @rubyschmidt gets it. You just have to pick your own flavor of text mess.