I know quite a few people of my generation who talk fine but are *terrible* writers. Because they think that talking and writing are two completely different things; they feel fine speaking, but are uncomfortable writing. (The two activities do have differences; but they aren’t really that *different*. One picks up a pen, and thinks, “Now what should I say?”) ‘Kids’ nowadays know this — because much of the time, ‘writing’ is *how they talk*.

(Hm. I wonder whether they will still be able to review transcripts of their conversations at 16 when they’re about to retire…)

Turns out that when you add up all of those txt messages, blog posts, and online product reviews, kids write far more than we ever did. They might not be great at penmanship, punctuation and spelling, but researchers found that kids are really adept at writing for different audiences – an essential part of good writing. They are short and to the point when txting a sandwich order, detailed when posting an online tutorial, and persuasive when arguing the merits of Mac vs. PC on a discussion board.