what’s the deal with everything being written in lowercase? Typing only in lowercase actually has a long history, going all the way back to original coding language which distinguished variables and constants through upper and lowercase. And while proper capitalization had its time on the general internet, the last decade of Rupi Kaur poetry and lowercase becoming “nonchalant” has changed the norm. Now, everyone from Twitter users who deem it anti-establishment to 4chan users who can’t use rich text (like italicization) and feminist writers calling back to the tumblr days uses lowercase as their default. One etymology content creator says it might even be some users’ way of distinguishing their writing from AI, because it naturally capitalizes, and asking it not to adds a layer of friction. Others notice its lack of formality is common among high-ups in the corporate world, signaling they don’t need to be writing emails slowly and carefully anymore. Is Gen Z thinking about all this when they turn off their auto caps? Probably not, but that doesn’t mean the history isn’t baked in! (WIRED)
