What really galls me is that "text speak" (e.g., U for you and R for are) is finding its way into other forms of writing. I wonder what written English will look like in 50 years.
I couldn't agree more. The tech (or the fastest way of using it, I should say) is enabling stupidity to flourish.
I also read an article recently saying that if you want to sound accessible and warm in your text messages you shouldn't use proper punctuation. They said if you use a period at the end of a sentence it makes you look too formal. That was the first I'd heard of it. So if you sent one text message saying "Thanks so much I appreciate you!" vs "Thanks so much I appreciate YOUUUUUU!!!!" the second would seem more sincere. So repeated letters for emphasis is quite common these days. Yes I know I spoke about using periods and ended up using exclamation points in my example.
Just imagine having to read through a bunch of text messages from two young idiots who end up in court over allegations of domestic violence. It is enough to make my head hurt to see how they write in text messages these days.
