Why do today's children skip the dots and dashes? Speech-to-text and texting culture Children are growing up in a world of messaging apps where punctuation is optional. Messages often rely on line breaks, emoji's or tone rather then capitals, commas and full stops or question marks. When a learner needs to transfer this style to schoolwork, punctuation feels extra and superfluous rather than essential. Keyboard over handwriting Typing on a phone or tablet, especially with p