Yesterday is, like, so over.

I have been listening to the speech patterns of gifted, young (early 30s to mid-40s) playwrights at the meetings I recently attended. Like as a - what? - conjunction? - began to appear in conversation about the time that my two daughters were in high school, or I noticed it then. I member asking one of Liz's friends if she could get through a description of an event without using like. She did try, stumbling and pausing frequently as she expunged like. She sounded like (correct usage) an alien using an unfamiliar language.

I thought this penchant would pass with maturity and a broader education but it hasn't. it remains embedded in contemporary speech. I looked it up; it's not a conjunction:

like, adverb 1 informal, used in speech as a meaningless filler or to signify the speaker's uncertainty about an expression just used: there was this funny smell—sort of dusty like. 2 informal, used to convey a person's reported attitude or feelings in the form of direct speech (whether or not representing an actual quotation): so she comes into the room and she's like ‘Where is everybody?’. 3 (like as/to) archaic: in the manner of: like as a ship with dreadful storm long tossed. Online Dictionary

I'm afraid it is not, like, so over.