There was an interesting editorial in The Enquirer recently. It stated that while 85% of teenagers from 12 to 17 use text messaging, e-mail, or instant messaging, 60% of them don't think of those items as being writing. They consider it more like saying "hi" to a friend in the hall. To them, real writing is schoolwork, creative writing, and for what it's worth (FWIW), the occasional snail mail letter that 33% of them write. These numbers are based on the study made by the Pew internet and American Life Project.

Can it be possible? Teens actually take old fashioned writing of complete words seriously? Almost 9 of 10 say that good writing is a key to success in life although most admit that occasionally their text messaging gibberish accidently slips in. James Bilington of the Library of Congress fears that as kids text more often they may be damaging "the basic unit of human thought: the sentence."

Regardless, what kids are doing now will def (definitely) change the world we know. It's called progress just like the typewriter was considered the ultimate for kids to do reports and papers 40 to 50 years ago. I remember trudging to the library to do research, making a bunch of notes, then going home and typing it up on my 1955 Smith-Corona portable typewriter. I felt like I was into some big time technology! Now, kids do it all at home on the computer and if you took a survey most of them probably wouldn't know what a typewriter was.

Sixty-nine percent of teenagers today say that they have created audio, video, Powerpoint, and multimedia presentations. Anyone who would consider unfolding an unwieldy paper map rather than simply clicking on Mapquest would make them LOL (laugh out loud).

While it sounds like the ultimate in efficiency, there is a downside to this technology. The current generation sits more, moves less, and spends more than in the past. I rarely see a kid without a cell phone. Do they really need one or are their parents giving in to their wishes too easily? The average 15-year-old spends about 7 minutes a day on voluntary reading, most of it while playing video games or watching TV. When is the last time you saw a bunch of kids choose sides on a sandlot and play a game of football?

It's up to parents to see that kids don't spend all their time texting. They need to influence them toward the rewards of reading and writing and maybe to go outside and run a mile now and then.