For the Youth of America!

(Image: http://kimkiminy.com/2012/04/10/the-difference-between-your-and-youre/)

One of the biggest issues that I am concerned about with up and coming generations is their lack of common spelling and grammar. I'm not sure if technology is to blame for this, but I think I've come up with a way to use technology, something that the younger generation cannot seem to let go of, to combat this lack of knowledge.

Let's think about this for a moment. How often do my students, and teenage stepbrother and stepsister, post something on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Vine? Well, if you're my stepsister, 3-5 posts every hour, and usually to three of the four social media websites aforementioned. It's obvious how much teens nowadays use these websites. It's even more blunt to me as a high school teacher; seeing these students constantly checking their status, pictures, etc during passing periods, free time, and even while going to the bathroom.

Some might argue, and I would agree, that technology and social media are hindering the youth of America, and the world, now moreso than ever. But that's for another post. For now, let's focus how we can use teenagers' and adults' constant use of technology to "teach" them. That's right, they can actually learn from these social media websites, but it will take some work on our part. Here's how:

Anytime, we see a grammar/spelling mistake, we need to do two things.

1.) For the love of everything holy, do NOT re-post, re-tweet, re-ANYTHING. We need to stop this use of English in its tracks, and this is the best way to do so. And honestly, it's not like you won't be able to find the same picture, quote, meme, etc if you just Google the darn thing. Chances are, there are several (thousand) items that you can re-post, but let's hope you re-post the grammatically correct one.

2.) If you see a picture or post on a popular social media website, such as Pinterest, you should also comment in the comment box what needs to be changed. Now, I know the way people feel about you correcting their grammar; as an English teacher, I've been called a grammar Nazi, smart a**, and a few other choice terms for doing this. But you know what? I can still sleep at night knowing that I'm saving the English language, one moron at a time. ;) No, but seriously, I've seen people actually start to make changes to their writing with my subtle comments.

And that's all it takes! Two simple tricks, that could revolutionize the way in which people can learn to correct their grammar mistakes, and essentially helping them to be more intellectual. According to the Business Insider, when a user creates a post that is liked and/or shared, an average of 61% of their friends see it (Cooper Smith). Then, imagine one of this particular user's friends, who does not have the exact set of friends, re-posting it, and getting the same audience, or perhaps even more than the average 61%. Think about how we could use this knowledge to benefit the youth of the world!

So, my question to you is, why are we not doing this already?

Some common mistakes I'm seeing:
then vs than
their, there, they're
your vs you're
past vs. passed