Response to "Cormac McCarthy’s Three Punctuation Rules..."

As an English student, I am frequently told to be deliberate with my writing. Whole lessons are dedicated to discerning the “strong” verbs from the “weak” and how to cut the unnecessary fluff from an essay. However, I am rarely instructed on how to deliberately use punctuation. Of course students are provided with the rules of grammar and how to analyze the effect of an unusual use of punctuation in a piece of writing, but I have never considered my use of punctuation. It is simply an automatic reflex as I am writing. I finish a thought and I add a period. Most of the time, I do not even realize that consciousness behind my punctuation. However, when you think about it, the fact that punctuation still exists in today’s world is nearly a miracle. With quick emails and texts that are considered too long if they use more than a dozen words, the use of punctuation is dying. In fact, in a study conducted by Binghamton University, researchers found that by ending a text with a period you may come across as insincere. My generation was born into the digital age. We do not know a world without the internet, cellphones, or the word email being in the dictionary. Exclamation points are thrown out casually in text conversations, yet periods, commas, and god forbid semi-colons, are avoided like the plague. A period at the end of a word automatically causes millennials stress. A period sparks a myriad of questions. Why are they mad at me? What did I say wrong? Did I do something to offend them and not realize it? Why didn’t she use an emoji? So with Cormac McCarthy warning against the overuse of punctuation and recommending a minimalist approach to punctuation, does my generation run the risk of over-simplifying writing? Will my great-great-grandchildren write all their essays in the language of emoji? I hope for the sake of the future of this planet and humanity that the answer is an inequivical no. But who can say for certain?