Why Do "Like," so many people "Like," say this word "Like," all the time?

As an introvert and someone who doesn't like talking a bunch, I use "like" as a crutch, and it allows me to buy some time as I structure my sentences.

Valley girls rule the world

A new trend? Have you been like under a rock for like 20 years?

It's been that way since the "valley girl" image in the 1980s, or perhaps even longer, but that's when I remember first hearing it.

Thanks all; makes sense. I guess I'm just used to hearing it less in a sentence than 2-3x. No big deal.

Pick your poison. “ like” or “um” or “….”. But people often get anxious when speaking and use filler words as they think. By speaking consciously you can change them to brief silence or facial expressions instead.

"new trend" bruh where have you been for 30+ years? This has been a part of slang/dialects for a while

People are insecure, especially during public speaking. We have to train ourselves to be more confident with silences. Removing all your filler words actually makes you sound more contemplative, and makes the message sound more important

Exactly! When do you hear MD's, VP's, people in the Senate public speak or talk in sentence, with that filler? It's ok to use the word in sentence but a scale back from several times per sentence would be great. I took a public speaking course and there was an "ummm" counter in the class. 

I like to work on better speaking and perfectly OK to hold the silence for 30 seconds to regroup your thought track. Haven't been living under a rock..
I am in the now. Some ppl don't like small talk; I'm not big on the filler talk. Whether it be a person who is at the podium at the Grammy's that's doing it, or a co-worker; although no judgment on my part.

Being funny, concise, clear, as "filler free" as can be , speaks volumes about their confidence & intelligence. Talk as y'all want. Just going to remind myself, "why do you like, even care like, how people in society talk, like?" I'm good!

Honestly, when it comes to speech, there are a few habits people fall into without realizing it. Filler words are very common, saying "uhm", "uh", "like" are all common. It really just depends how aware the individual is of their own speech patterns and corrects them accordingly. I remember when I had mock interview prep, I used to record myself on my computer with a few answers, and I would get second-hand embarassment from watching myself and got to the point where I'd count the number of times I said "uhm" or "uh" in a 90-second answer. 

Of course, now that I'm more conscious of it, I've learned to correct it. And really, that's more or less what's going on here. 

I like to frame it less as a filler phrase like “um”, but as a preface to alert the listener “I’m not totally sure what I’m about to say is correct, buts is kind of close, so prepare to use your imagination to fill in the gaps”. Looking at that positively, its this type of conversation facilitator to get the listener on the same wavelength as the speaker. But looking at it negatively, it shows the person isn’t really evaluating what they’re saying before they say it and finding the words and phrases they believe best suite their idea. So when someone is over using it, we interpret their thinking appear lazy and shallow. And when someone doesn’t use it (or use “um” or other fillers), we interpret it as confidence and thoughtfulness. But those interpretations can sometimes be incongruent with the actual content of their talking. Someone can say dumb things without using like and say smart things using like a lot. It says more about the listener’s preconceived notions about how people should speak and relate than it does the speaker.

Using "um" and "like" as filler words sucks but is pretty common. People typically aren't used to speaking clearly due to a lack of experience.