Because ending your text with a period feels cold. You know it, they know it, and science confirms it.
Type a message and we'll tell you if it might come across as passive-aggressive.
These messages might seem innocent, but that full stop changes everything.
Let's be honest: you already knew that period felt off. When someone who usually texts casually suddenly ends with a full stop, your gut tells you something's wrong. That instinct is real — and research from Binghamton University confirms it.
"Text messages that ended with a period were rated as less sincere than text messages that did not end with a period."
The study, led by Professor Celia Klin, found that in text messaging, the period has evolved from a simple punctuation mark into an "emotion marker." Because pressing send already signals the end of a message, adding a period is redundant — and that extra effort is interpreted as deliberate coldness.
Trust your gut Think about it: when you're genuinely happy for someone, you don't reply "Congrats." You say "Congrats!!" or add an emoji. We all instinctively know that a period creates distance. Texting lacks facial expressions and tone of voice, so we've adapted — using punctuation, emojis, and capitalization to convey warmth. A lone period at the end does the opposite.
Source:
Gunraj, D. N., Drumm-Hewitt, A. M., Dashow, E. M., Upadhyay, S. S. N., & Klin, C. M. (2016). Texting insincerely: The role of the period in text messaging. Computers in Human Behavior, 55, 1067-1075.