It seems like these days, you never see a teenager without a cell phone in their hand. Whether they’re just texting, tweeting, or going on Facebook, their eyes are glued to their screens. But recently, when I was scrolling down my very own Facebook newsfeed, I noticed something. About 80% of the statuses I was reading had horrible grammar or spelling. It drives me crazy. This is an actual status I read on my newsfeed that made me notice this in the first place: “hehe got sum more clothes!!! thanks u i loves u ;) wink wink lolz!” What?! We have English class for a reason, and I feel like people should know better by now.

The problem is that it doesn’t just happen on Facebook. It happens on other social networking sites, and while texting, too. People are forgetting their own English skills because they have become too attached to the internet and texting. It’s causing people to get lazy and abbreviate their words and sentences and to overall not care about anything learned in English class. The problem I see the most is people who do not know the difference between their, they're, and there. But why don’t they? THEIR: it represents a possession. THEY’RE: it represents they + are. And last, but not least, THERE: it represents a place. What is so hard for people to understand about this? I think the problem is that people have gotten too lazy to care. This is a generation where our phones are smarter than us. And although that may come in handy sometimes, it’s also causing the problem.

I think that knowing basic grammar skills (including realizing the difference between their, they're and there) is essential to being a successful person in this world. You most definitely cannot fill out your job application with a sentence like this: "ya so id lyke a job hur nd id b a rlly gud employee." This is not an exaggeration; I really have seen people type like this. The place you are applying for would not even consider you for one second. They'd maybe even take that as a joke. In the future, I hope we don’t see a bunch of newspapers with headlines saying things like “OMGG! Gurl saves cat!” That would be so unprofessional. But at the rate we’re all headed, that seems like all we know how to type.

Don't get me wrong, while texting it is a lot easier to say things like lol, omg, and gtg. I mean I use them all the time! But I wouldn’t think about sending a text that used improper grammar. I know what I’m doing. And honestly, I feel as though it makes people take me more seriously and see me as more mature.

So has texting and the internet deprived teens (or anyone) of their basic grammar skills? In my opinion, yes. All teens seem to do all day is type, either on their phones or on their computers. They’re communicating with their friends, so who cares about proper grammar, right? Wrong. It’s causing us to become used to this kind of typing and language. When we’re older, will it be the normal thing to type like that status I read? I don’t think everyone will be like that, but I do certainly think there will be some people who are. It’s sad. If the world would just take two extra seconds to think about the sentence they are typing, the world would become a lot more literate.