Too Much IM For Teens

Guess what the latest internet communication survey says? According to a survey of more than 1000 by Pew Internet and American Life, in America, E mail is for "grown-ups" and now U.S. teenagers prefer instant messaging to communicate with each other online. Internet users from 12 to 17 years of age say e-mail is best for talking to parents or institutions, but they are more likely to fire up IM when talking with each other.
Though E mail is still used sometimes by up to 90% of U.S. teens, they spend an average of almost 2 hours each day using IM. Only grudgingly do they send. e mail. In the case of adults, only 42 % ever use IM, but most use e mail daily. Too, nearly 9 of 10 U.S. tens use the Internet each day, with only those who are limited with access to the Internet (some are too poor to have a connection), not on line at all.
So why do teens IM instead of writing e mail? I have two theories on it. The first has to do with the speed of the communication. IM is instant and teens love the fast pace of it for sending web links, photos, video or music clips. (Adults do much less of that). The second reason I think teens shun e mail is their poor writing skills. Writing an e mail, though still considered an informal communication, has higher expectations than IM.
A teen using IM can make grammatical and usage errors and not be seen negatively because of it. The (annoying) computer abbreviations and acronyms are also allowed on IM. But when writing an e mail there is some expectation for clarity and proper usage. Whether the teens ar just too lazy to take the time to compose a more exact e mail or whether they lack the English skills to do so remains to me a mystery, though I think that it is probably a combination of both.
I like E mail, and I try to compose my letters free of usage errors. E mail a good training ground for kids who try to compose letters written with clarity, but that group is is a small one. Will the use of so much informal language on those ----- cell phones and IM kill language skill? Will it make us think that informal (sloppy) language is appropriate most of the time? I am not sure. What do you think?