Proper punctuation and capitalization make for an interesting dynamic when texting. It can be interpreted almost as... pushing someone away? Lowering your case (and throwing some grammatical mistakes in there while you're at it) may communicate greater informality or comfort when texting, like you're open to making mistakes and trust the person not to care so much about them.
Think about it this way... When you're emailing your boss or professor, you'd definitely use proper grammar. By use of the transitive property (i.e. if a=b and b=c, then a=c), if you use proper grammar with your friends, it's kind of like changing the relationship dynamic to a more formal one, which makes people feel iffy.
I wonder why. There may be other reasons though. So here are my guesses:
Trying too hard
Perhaps the fact that you're even going back to replace that "-r" with an "-'re" shows that your trying too hard. Gotcha! I know it's "you're" hehe. Or maybe it just shows that you know proper grammar. 😜
But honestly, it might just be that you are a busy bee and don't have time to go back and check your texts for grammatical correctness.
I don't even know if what I just wrote makes sense. But alas, we shall move on.
Just too much effort to turn on spell-check
Perhaps spell-check or the auto-capitalization option is too annoying for some texters, so they'd prefer to leave it off. Or just don't bother to turn it on. Anywhooo, this may explain the lowercase letter at the start of each sentence. Or maybe they're typing on their Macbook, which doesn't auto-capitalize? I don't text on my laptop so not sure about this one.
Jumping on the bandwagon
This may be the case for me. I am a recent convert to starting most of my messages with lowercase letters. I used to text with proper grammar and capitalization, but it seems that everyone communicates without it, so I started following the trend. Honestly, I'm not sure why. Perhaps it has to do with...
...too much aggression
I've heard that proper punctuation and capitalization in texts makes you sound excessively aggressive. This may tie into the formality idea described above.
If your friend texts you (1) "check your phone" or (2) "Check your phone." — you might have a more serious reaction to the second one (e.g. OMG did I do something wrong? Did I forget to do something? Does my friend need help?!). The first one might seem more nonchalant. Like, "check your phone whenever you get a chance" or "I just sent you a funny meme"... nothing too urgent.
Though of course, adding a couple of exclamation points could change all that. "check your phone!!" may very well mean that your secret admirer has just professed their love to you in a Columbia Confessions post and you now must become Sherlock Holmes to find out who they are. But "Check your phone." ? No no no. This may either be something extremely serious or a passive aggressive text from someone who wants you to stop ignoring their messages.
It's just easier
Maybe we all just need to chill and stop being so sensitive to what a period (or lack thereof) means in a text. Maybe it's just easier to type without punctuation or in all lowercase letters. Yep, I said it.
Buuuut this is actually the opposite for me. Sometimes it takes more effort to write in all lowercase than with proper capitalization. I have to actively go back to the beginning of the sentence and replace the formal, way-too-serious capital with a softer, more light-hearted, nonchalant lowercase letter. And auto-correct still gets its way. And I have to go back and re-lower my case before sending the message. How interesting. What a long process to send a short message, yet I still oblige.
Overthinking punctuation and capitalization is too easy with the freedom we have in the texts we send. Perhaps it's this freedom we have in texting (unlike in academic papers or emails) that make us search for meaning in the choices made in stylizing our messages. It's funny how you can sometimes tell who a text is from without even reading it, just based on how it's formatted. I find this pretty interesting. :)
On the other hand, perhaps these choices put too much emphasis on the format of our messages, rather than their actual content. This point is related to something one of my professors had mentioned in the context of Zoom classes: so much time is put into the delivery of online classes that the actual content might even take a back seat.
This all goes to show that a balance needs to be struck to master the art of digital communication.
Oh, and as a last note, I'd say I (over)analyze my own texts more than anyone else's, just in case I come off as "too ____" or "not ____ enough" (fill in the blanks depending on the situation). But to be honest, my recipients probably don't even notice the little details I mull over, so it's probably a good idea to stop being so meticulous and just say what you wanna say. As with anything, you're probably the harshest on yourself. And if you're texting people who truly know you, I can guarantee they'll understand your meaning—regardless of if you lower your case or not.
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