It might be said that “only kindness matters in the end,” but that is not very helpful for everyone in the middle, or in what I like to call “life.”
The honest truth is that a lot matters — everything from the grades you get, to the friends you have, to the activities you enjoy. It all affects how you are perceived.
Yes, what people think of you does matter. Your third-grade teacher was wrong.
You are constantly being judged all of the time. If you do not believe me, pay a little visit to www.likealittle.com (a website built for college flirtations) and see if the person who loudly complained about her inadequate serving of bacon in the dining hall made the cuts. I didn’t.
Everyone in college is critiquing one another constantly, and often times we judge and are judged in return for things we’re not even aware of. It could be the way we eat, the way we say something or our need to yell obscenities in the presence of authority figures.
Or it could be the way we text. Yes, texting has become one of the most important means of communication among college kids because it allows the user an efficient way to connect with someone while simultaneously avoiding them.
Unlike using the telephone, which we picked up the intricacies of after years of use, texting has not been around forever and there is not as much social etiquette in its practice.
Being unencumbered by social cues, texting allows the texter’s true colors to shine through. If you’re looking to be perceived differently, look no further than how you text.
We all know each of our friends has different texting styles, but what do they mean?
Personally, I am a structured texter most of the time; I’m very conscious of how my text reads. I find commas and apostrophes to be essential to getting my point across, because so much misunderstanding would happen without them.
It’s a world of a difference. I mean without commas, “How are you, Jillian?” could be read as “How are you Jillian?” Need I say more?
Without me having to spell it out for you, this texting style screams that the person is u-p-t-i-g-h-t.
In stark opposition to the structured texter is the laid-back texter. This is the type of person who really uses texts how they were intended: quick communication.
They usually have complete disregard for punctuation, and because of this, the text reads like their personality — real and sincere, not contrived.
This is a great texting style — that I often adopt — when you want to come off as happy-go-lucky and down-to-earth.
“Where the fuck are you, Matthew? You’re making me late!” transforms into “Where you at man, you’re gonna miss all the fun.”
And almost everyone has a friend who is a perpetual laugher. At first, it’s flattering.
You imagine that all your texts are finely crafted works of art, but then you soon realize that your macaroni masterpieces are not the cause of this giggle fest.
“Haha sure.” “What’s up lol?” “Are you going to the movies lol?”
Go to the movies with a manic laughter? No, thank you. (Especially not for my weekly viewings of “My Sister’s Keeper.”)
The perpetual laugher is the person in the group who is constantly trying to avoid conflict. “Laughing” gives off the appearance that this person could not care less about what decision ends up being made.
“You decide lol.” “Haha yeah no big deal lol.” Laughing is for quitters.
Of course there are many other types of texters, but these are the three that definitely jump out in my mind as having the most identifiable personalities. If you read this and decided that you could afford to be taken more seriously, consider adopting punctuation.
Or if you want to go with the flow and just forgo all notions of grammar, everyone will see you as laid back and fun. Life will take on a smoother course; it’s true. I promise that without punctuation everything will just flow, running on and on and on and on.