Chandler+G's+OpEd+Article

media type="file" key="chandlerr-muckraker-2011.mp3" align="center" By Chandler G.-R. In this day of technology and immediate communication, it would seem likely that intelligence skills would be rising. We are constantly writing- tweeting, texting, emailing, etc. So it comes as quite a shock to me that writing skills are decreasing. But fear not, America! I have solved this mystery. Its cuz we b typin like dis. Don’t worry, being a teenager I have mastered deciphering sentences such as the one above- Its = It’s Cuz = because B = be Typin = typing Dis = this You may be thinking that this horrific writing must only come from third graders who just learned how to text message (the decreasing age of phone owners is an issue for another time), but I assure you, I have seen messages such as these from people in their teens to full grown adults. Punctuation is completely disregarded, proper sentence structure never applies and apparently it takes too long to write out “you” so “u” has become an accepted replacement. NO! STOP IT! Do not insult my intelligence with your disgusting spelling variations. Standard text messages can hold 160 characters. The y and o in “you” will not put you over the limit. In my attempt to preserve eloquent writing and correct spelling, I have begun writing letters to friends. I’m hoping to encourage quality writing in any way possible, because I swear, if I see one more sentence with “4” rather than “for”, I might slit my wrists.