Left on read? A new study suggests your unreplied messages could be the fault of a common texting habit. While most texters use abbreviations in their messages, research from Stanford University suggests it could signal that you don’t care about the conversation.
Scientists also discovered people who used abbreviations in their texts were less likely to receive replies, and the use of them could cut conversations short.
“A lack of perceived effort could be detrimental to interpersonal connections when texting,” the authors wrote in the study, published by the American Psychological Association.
“Our findings are especially relevant when we want to appear more sincere and strengthen social ties, such as at the beginning of a relationship or when we need to make a good impression,” said lead researcher David Fang, a doctoral student at Stanford University.
The study – published in Journal of Experimental Psychology: General – analysed conversations from 37 countries and more than 5,300 texters. Researchers studied the behaviour of message receivers on dating apps and chatrooms in conversations with and without abbreviations.
Rather than making participants appear laidback, the findings suggest that not spelling out words in full made a person – whatever their age – appear insincere. Interestingly, 80 per cent of participants predicted that others wouldn’t mind the use of abbreviations – and 4 per cent wrongly thought it would have a positive impact.
“We thought texters might like abbreviations because it would convey an informal sense of closeness, so we were surprised that abbreviations elicited negative perceptions about people who use them,” explained Fang.
Abbreviations are not the only trend texters have thought GTG. While an emoji may seem like a clear way to illustrate your message, a study from earlier this year revealed their intended meaning can be easily misinterpreted.
Previous research has also found a humble full stop at the end of texts made readers believe they were less genuine than messages without one. Texters voted exclamation points as the most sincere way to punctuate a sentence (!!!).
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