Blogging making teens better writers

I partially agree with the point that was made in this article. I do think that it is definitely a good thing that more teens are writing and expressing their thoughts as a result of AIM and blogging, particularly because I'm sure there are many teens who would not be writing at all if that outlet was not available. All in all, it is a great resource which is much easier and less tedious to use than the classic pencil/pen and paper method.

On the other hand, I don't know that the internet shorthand is necessarily a good thing, particularly for very young writers. If a student is just learning proper writing format (paragraph formation, etc.) the style used in blogging and AIM imparticular is likely to confuse them. This may end up hurting them in the end when they are handing in assignments with improper formatting.

So I guess that overall, I do think that it is wonderful that teens have more opportunities to write, they just need to be aware of when they can use shortcuts and when they should not!