Hello, listeners. Today we’re diving into the world of “dry texting,” a term coined by teens to describe a sudden “change in the vibe of the conversation,” as 18-year-old Tanisha puts it. It might be a shift from ALL CAPS to lowercase, a two-letter reply, or what 18-year-old Joanne calls a “conversation ender.”

Smartphones offer teens passive paths to conflict: leaving someone on read, half-swiping on Snapchat, or quietly removing friends on Instagram. As Emily Weinstein, executive director of Harvard’s Center for Digital Thriving, warns, “Tech creates these subtle fault lines in communication,” leaving recipients stuck in an anxious spiral of “Do they hate me? Did I say the wrong thing?”

Yet phones can also help: texting gives time to think, makes hard talks less intimidating, and can even keep conflict from turning physical. Still, many teens urge a low-tech fix: hash it out face-to-face whenever you can.
Link to Article