living in lowercase

did this article catch your eye because you unconsciously noticed something was different? you’re right: it’s written in lowercase.

uncommon texting etiquette has always been present, but the latest wave is typing in lowercase letters only. the majority of the people i text send messages without capitalized letters, even if the other aspects of their sentences, such as punctuation and lack of abbreviation, are grammatically correct. this trend began with the earliest mobile phones, when it was a hassle to get to certain letters and to capitalize words, causing a whole new type of writing to emerge, with minimal effort ways to express things such as “fyi,” “lol,” and “2nite.” but while some internet abbreviations have stayed, others have disappeared completely. some are still used ironically in mainstream and social media. meanwhile, typing in lowercase has more or less stayed put. it’s safe to say that lowercase is here to stay.

but is it unprofessional? my phone’s auto-cap is turned off, and whenever i need to send an e-mail to a teacher, i find myself manually turning caps on. talking professionally over e-mail and with authority figures is the norm. capitalization has been used throughout the years to show respect. an old history teacher once told my class that her pet peeve is capitalization errors, because it shows ignorance and varying levels of respect. for example, older textbooks tend to capitalize europe but not africa. the difference in capitalization says something about the writer and their views of the world. but when texting, i hardly ever think about capitalizing names, places, and organizations.

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