Understandably, the way you text your best friend is different from the way you interact with your parents in a family group chat. There are some emojis and memes your parents simply won’t understand, and forget about voice memos – these are just too Gen Z for them. But there’s one thing older generations definitely don’t understand: the underlying tone of a text message reply of “okay” is a little cringe-worthy.
This is a common reply from baby boomers to anything from telling them we've arrived at the airport or asking how they're doing, but do our people realize that using a capital O and a period at the end of a word can start a spiral? Are they aware of using "ok". Because what was their reaction?
A recent survey of more than 150 Bustle readers revealed that nearly 29% believed it "unintentionally sounds mean." After all, if one of my girlfriends texted me "ok." I would be immediately sent down an overthinking rabbit hole, unravel it in therapy, and maybe even post shady remarks about “fake friends” on my Instagram story in the hope that she would see it. So why should our older relatives get a pass?
This is blunt, period.
Some readers believe that the use of the period adds a veil of formality and can make us feel like we are taking the period a little too casually when used by someone we are taught to treat with the utmost respect. The CEO of our family. “The use of periods in general makes me nervous,” one person said. Another said: "They should know better now and tell them to stop using periods."
If you don't use a few run-on sentences interspersed with comma splices and maybe a few exclamation points for good measure, you're bound to come across as a little mean, or at least a little annoyed. Many of us use the same etiquette when punctuating emails to avoid appearing arrogant. Don’t our parents realize that or that they can – gasp! — Stand up for your opinion without feeling guilty and think about it every night before falling into REM sleep? Unable to connect!
Baby boomers strive for simplicity in text messaging
Some people say that parents use "good". This is their default reaction when they don't know what else to say. This may also be due to them not understanding that iMessage reactions can be legitimate reactions to certain texts. "[Using 'okay'] is just because they haven't thought through what they need to say but can't be bothered to say anything important," one person said.
And it could be worse; some of the writing is more succinct and not even well thought out, and could even read as more than "good." "Hey, that's an updated version of the Y or N my mom sent when texting first became popular!" said another respondent.
Disadvantages of subtizing parent text
Teach our parents not to say "yes." Everything can be harder than it looks. After all, the grass is always greener. After proposing to your parents to change their habits, you might encounter an even greater scourge—the overuse of cheugy GIFs or customized Bitmoji responses to every life update you send. I don’t want to see an animated version of my mother smiling at me and giving me a thumbs up when I text her to tell her I’m scheduled for my annual physical.
Maybe OK. ” is a generational gap we have to learn to live with. As frustrating as it is, I can only take steps that come close to what parents feel when we try to explain “Traylor” or the TikTok algorithm to them, but let’s face it: “OK” .is it really worse than turning your own father into a lower case boy?
