one way to stay young forever: type in lowercase
Morgan Rae Playle was 27 when she crossed the threshold into adulthood. She started texting with uppercase letters. Just like getting a driver’s license or going off to college, turning on auto-capitalization for text messages has become a milestone of adulting.
Even smartphone natives who have been thumb-typing since diapers know that true adults start sentences with capital letters, and that names and other proper nouns deserve the same. The question for many 20-somethings now is: When will society expect me to adhere to the laws of grammar? Some realize it’s time to turn on auto-capitalization when they begin texting with bosses and colleagues for work, given lowercase letters can be susceptible to misinterpretation. This is especially the case when communicating with older generations who didn’t grow up DMing their BFFs.
But shunning the Shift key helps others cling to their youth. To them, a lowercase letter isn’t just a lowercase letter. Instead, it’s a way to forever remain cool and casual in texts.
Even some CEOs do it. Lexicographers agree. They say lowercase typing isn’t laziness.
It actually takes effort, since auto-capitalization is generally on by default. Like emojis and exclamation points, this is one of the many ways in which people try to get their humanness to shine through cold technical interfaces. Morgan typed in lowercase throughout her 20s, feeling it gave off a kind of carefree mimosa-brunch vibe.
In her previous role as social-media strategist, she occasionally tweeted in lowercase. She started a new job last November in Dallas where she works on events and coordinates with clients and vendors. She didn’t want them to see messages in all lowercase and think an intern was texting them.
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