IIf you receive a text message saying “wyd” – translation: “what are you doing?” » – there’s a good chance you’ll cross one thing off that list: replying to the message.

According to a study published on November 14 in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General99.3% of texters regularly use abbreviations that, in theory, could save valuable typing time, like opting for “hru?” instead of asking someone how they are, or shortening “really” to “really”. Study author David Fang, a doctoral student in behavioral marketing at Stanford University, wondered whether this habit enhanced or diminished digital communication. He always made it a point to send in complete sentences, because he feared that otherwise the recipients of his messages would think he was slacking. But he wasn’t sure if his intuition was correct, so he decided to test it.

Turns out Fang had something to do with it. Abbreviations in text messages are seen as insincere to recipients, who then send fewer, shorter replies (if they bother to reply at all). “I was surprised by the magnitude of the negative results,” he says. “The abbreviations are quite subtle: they don’t really constitute a blatant transgression. But people can see that you’re taking a shortcut and putting less effort into typing, which triggers a negative perception.

All age groups hate text abbreviations

Fang and his co-authors started with an open mind: abbreviated messages might indicate a lack of effort that might rub people the wrong way, sure, but they might appear casual and approachable, promoting greater sentiment proximity.

To determine which instinct was correct, the researchers conducted eight experiments with data from thousands of people. They analyzed anonymous conversations on Tinder and Discord, which led to the conclusion that people were less likely to exchange contact information or respond to abbreviation enthusiasts. They also asked participants to rate text conversations, including texts they received from other people in real life. People described messages with abbreviations as less sincere than those without abbreviations and indicated that they were not likely to respond.

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Interestingly, the effects were found across different age groups, from text-savvy Gen Zers to those who probably didn’t know what half the abbreviations meant. Although some may consider abbreviations to be youthful or hip, young people don’t really like them. “Young people don’t like abbreviations as much as older people,” Fang says. “It’s just as negative.”

Why does this reaction last? This is likely due to something called social exchange theory: the common belief that a relationship depends on its cost-benefit balance. The amount of effort one person expends, the thinking goes, influences the reciprocal effort of the other person. So if you feel like someone isn’t investing much in a texting relationship — which inherently has a give-and-take, give-and-take nature — you’ll likely adjust your communication accordingly.

Why it matters

If you like abbreviations (bc, IDK, they’re cool or convenient), you don’t have to avoid them entirely based on these results, Fang says. Instead, he suggests thinking carefully about who is receiving your messages. Say you’re trying to woo a potential date: In Tinder’s analysis, a 1 percentage point increase in “netspeak” (which includes common abbreviations and acronyms) was associated with a 7 percentage point decrease of the average duration of a conversation. “When two people meet on Tinder and they don’t know each other, you can imagine that if the conversations are shorter, maybe people don’t build as strong a connection,” Fang says. “One of the consequences could be that relationships just don’t take off as much. »

Even people around you might not appreciate your informal texts. In one of Fang’s experiments, people were asked to imagine being in a text conversation with someone they were close to or far from. They found that even when two people were close, abbreviations indicated insincerity. Over time, this could take a toll on relationships. As previous research concludedpeople value the quality of their conversations and want their text message exchanges to convey thoughtfulness and reflect the strong connection they have cultivated. “Your existing relationships might not be nurtured as much if you’re a bad texter,” says Fang.

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But let’s say, on the other hand, you’re texting a delivery driver who’s bringing the dinner you ordered to your apartment. If you want to start a “WYA” – “where are you?” » – you probably won’t offend anyone. “You can’t imagine building a long-term relationship with this person,” Fang says. “But if you do, if you’re talking to a coworker or a potential date, you might want to be more aware of the types of texts you’re sending and use fewer abbreviations.”

The “effortless” text that was not

Michelle Drouin, professor of psychology at Indiana University-Purdue University in Fort Wayne and author of Out of Touch: How to Survive an Intimacy Famineis not surprised by the results of the study (in which she did not participate). She points out that predictive texting has become so advanced that spelling a complete word or phrase requires virtually no additional effort compared to choosing the abbreviation. “It takes some effort to be that simple,” she says. “It implies a kind of let it happen attitude, or an intentional hyphenation of letters. This is no longer a time-saving technique. If you try to type “rly,” for example, your phone will probably automatically correct it to “really,” at least until it learns that you prefer the abbreviated version.

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Research hasn’t examined people’s motivations for using abbreviations, but Drouin thinks that those who intentionally hyphenate letters in their words are trying to “push away the feeling of ‘I don’t care,'” she says. “If they want to show the other person that they’re not taking this very seriously and that (the conversation) seems casual to them, then these abbreviations might be a good fit.”

Otherwise, if you’re trying to make a good impression, avoid it. People we don’t yet know make snap judgments about us all the time, and the words we use play an important role in the impression we make. Since texting is a mainstay of modern relationships — the “social currency of the ages,” as Drouin calls it — it can be helpful to think about your texting habits and whether you’re presenting yourself well . “If you master your texting game, I think you can really foster and maintain a lot of goodwill with your social relationships,” she says. “People should really be careful about how they say things and how often they say what they mean. It’s important. YW for the advice.