Everywhere I look people are using "there" when they should be using "they're" or "alot" when it should be "a lot" or how about "to" when it should be "too". Also I can't stand it when people use "r" instead of typing "are"! How much harder can it be to type two more letters? What has happened to the English language? Pretty soon we'll all be speaking this new "computer slang" and quite frankly I think it's a disgusting mutilation of our language.

Laziness , plain and simple :))

I think its the rush , with the young kids they use different signs for different things, I really think they know the right words to use but everybody is in a rush

Slang, shorthand, spell checkers gone wild are a few reasons. English as a second language is also a culprit.

lol that's how people type on the net, basically they are just lazy or type fast and it becomes a habit. Doesn't really matter because it's the internet, if it bothers you that bad then you should stay out of chats etc... your pretty anal to get upset about something so simple that other people do, I guess it just takes some smart to figure out that words like "r" mean "are" & "there" means "they're" get real please complain about something that matters

Hootie, some people do not know any better. Some know better but are lazy and perhaps do not care. For others it's about being cool perhaps - for you my friend, it is due to a lack of previewing your question before posting ;-)