One of my most basic principles has been challenged. Several weeks ago, I was told by a peer that as teenagers in a virtual environment, grammar no long mattered and that I was a lifeless loser as well as the sole person who cares about grammar. I suppose I should have been used to this by now since it was not my first grammar-related debate, but this just happened to set me off. I decided that it was time to get the idea that even though we are
teens, we shouldn’t throw everything we learned in English class to the wind and just bash our keyboards, hoping something coherent will emerge.

I know for a fact that I my grammar, or spelling, is not perfect. Just as I am not perfect, I do not expect it from others. Little stuff can be allowed to slide, such as the accidental typo. I should know, I occasionally press “/” instead of
“?” all the time. But is it really so hard to press shift at the start of your sentences? Or spelling to/too instead of just typing the number? It doesn’t matter if the discussion is about the influence of foreign countries on our economy or if it is about which celebrity is the hottest, grammar is something that everyone should use. If you don’t talk without vowels in real life, you should not type without vowels just to save three seconds.

So, what’s a solution for this? I believe the best way to remedy this is to take the normally negative effects of peer pressure and use it for good. The teenage mind is wired to go with the flow. If more people began to use grammar in their online discussions, others will surely follow.