There is a land called Passive Aggressive, and you are their Queen," is something Derek Shepherd tells his ex-wife after she gives him the silent treatment lathered with a generous helping of sarcasm in the TV series Grey's Anatomy. But that was about a decade ago. In the digital age, many seemingly innocent statements can be interpreted as passive-aggressive reactions. And vice versa. An Instagram page recently did a survey and came out with a list of passive aggressive texts; and yes, responding with "K" was a part of the list. Let's be honest, we all know that lazy people or those who think it's "cool" still choose to type like this. And we do belong to the category who sees red whenever someone responds to something elaborate with a letter of the alphabet.

Identifying passive aggressive behaviour is crucial to avoid misunderstanding or resolve conflict, points out city-based psychologist Dr Aditya Tiwari, adding, "This behaviour means non-cooperation in any situation. For example, in a fight, shouting translates to being aggressive. But when you are silent and non-responsive, that's passive aggression." Trouble arises in the digital world when withdrawal from communication is interpreted as the same. While blocking someone and not responding implies direct aggression when it comes to texts on social media or WhatsApp, it's the change from the regular pattern of expression that qualifies as being the
passive kind.