Are you a punctuation purist or an emoji enthusiast? In this episode of Two Millennials and Mom, we take a very candid deep dive into the world of texting to uncover what our style, punctuation habits and emoji choices say about us. Turns out, our texting habits might be aging us unless your Mecca who seems to be getting younger! From the Oxford comma wars to the passive-aggressive power of "K," we take a CNN quiz that determines our "texting age"—with plenty of laughs and silly debates along the way.

10,000-Foot View of this Episode:

What’s Your Texting Age?: We take a quiz to determine whether our texting habits align with our own generational habits or others. Spoiler: the results are surprising! Each of us gets categorized based on our emoji use, punctuation style and texting etiquette.

Grammar vs. Chaos: The Great Comma Debate: Cole defends his excessive comma use while Callie and Mecca wonder why they engaged in this debate in the first place. The discussion covers punctuation in texting, whether the Oxford comma is necessary and how grammar influences tone in digital communication. And, since Callie writes the show notes, you won’t find a single Oxford comma here—much to Cole’s dismay! (Cue dramatic sigh from comma enthusiasts...)
Passive-Aggressive Texts and the Unwritten Rules of Messaging: Does ending a text with a period make you seem cold? Gen Z thinks so. The group debates when punctuation feels passive-aggressive, why "K" is never okay and how texting rules have changed over time.
Texting Etiquette and the Expectation of Instant Replies: How long is too long to wait for a response? They break down unspoken rules about response times, whether tap-backs count as real responses and the different expectations between work and personal texts.
Generational Miscommunication and the Pitfalls of Texting Styles: Do Mecca’s brief texts sometimes seem distant to younger generations? The team unpacks how different age groups interpret tone, why miscommunication happens so easily and why it’s better to just pick up the phone.

Weird Thoughts about Generational Gateways to Community: For Baby Boomers, cars were their keys to freedom, independence and social connection. Owning a car meant access to the world. Millennials, on the other hand, find their community and connections through technology. Whether it’s texting, social media or video calls. We discuss how each generation finds their sense of belonging and why Gen Z seems to be leaning more on various app usage.
Good News Spotlight: A retired police officer is using his infrared drone to reunite lost pets with their owners. What started as a small personal project has now helped dozens of families find their beloved furry friends. His innovative use of technology proves that even small actions can have a big impact on a community.

Memorable Quotes:

"I'm not gonna use a smiley face passive aggressively." – Cole
“I'm a funny girl.” – Mecca
“I do not want to send you a run on sentence. I don't want to read your run on sentences. I want to have the general idea of where things start and stop because this could get really crazy and go off the rails fast. Use punctuation, folks.” – Callie
"I finally learned the hotkey for italics on PC to make it way easier instead of having to go back and…God, my boomer is coming out." – Cole
“I wish I did voice to text more, but because of my accent, it doesn't work.” – Mecca
"What kind of feelings could you have about a period at the end of a sentence? Like it's just there to tell you that the sentence is over." – Cole
“So, the moral of this episode is Cole is a pest.” – Callie

Resources Mentioned:

Take the texting quiz yourself and tell us your results! Are you texting like a Boomer, a Millennial or Gen Z? Send us your funniest voice-to-text fails or most-used emojis—we’d love to hear from you!

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What’s Your Texting Age? Generational Crimes of Communication