Old rules, new symbols

Abstract Older adults are increasingly active on social media, yet their digital writing practices remain underexplored. This study analyzes a corpus of intragenerational Whats­App messages exchanged among adults aged 65 and over, examining how emojis and punctuation are integrated in later-life digital writing. Using mixed-effects regression models, the analysis specifically focuses on message-closure strategies and emoji frequency. The results reveal a strong persistence of traditional punctuation practices. Message-final emojis are nevertheless common and frequently co-occur with a punctuation mark, suggesting an intermediate writing style in which entrenched writing conventions are combined with new symbolic resources. This ‘bounded flexibility’ is further shaped by sociodemographic variables such as age, platform experience, educational level, and gender.