OMG! Texting doesn't actually hurt kids' grammar or spelling skills

Texting has become the dominant form of communication among teens. This has led to widespread concerns that the informal spelling and grammar used in texts (termed "textisms" by researchers) would erode these kids' ability to use proper language.

Except, as it turns out, the data indicates that spending hours each day writing words and creatively manipulating language -- as texting kids tend to do -- doesn't actually reduce kids' formal spelling or grammar skills.

Several studies show that, for children and teens, there aren't any correlations between using more textisms and decreased performance on formal grammar and spelling tests over time. Indeed, there's even a slight correlation between textism use and increases in test scores -- suggesting that, counterintuitively, this sort of behavior might improve kids' mastery of written language.