Well, Socrates warned of this. Oh, wait, he warned of books. Never mind.

Dumbing the KIDS down?! Have you paid attention to what the adults post here or anywhere else? On this page alone I've noted instances of punctuation and pronoun errors, not to mention the "capital offenses."

I'm not posting this to rag on the occasional typo. I make mistakes, too. But I can't help wondering how many folks EVER had a firm grasp of grammatical/spelling rules.

As for the texting debate, people should lighten up. It's nothing more than shorthand for quicker communication. I'm guessing adults in Bell's day worried that kids using a telephone would forget how to write.

I manage a store where one of my responsibilities is to hire new people. I kid you not one teenager, came in filled out the application as if they were texting on their phone. When they handed me the application I did not know to take it seriously or not. They were asked why they used texting when filling out a form that is to be part of the hiring process. I gave them another form to be filled out in appropriate English. They never came back.

A lot of young people don't like or use textese. I really don't think it's a problem. LOL and ROFL and a few others are used, but sentences are still constructed with full words for the most part. At least that's the way it works for the circle of 20-somethings that I communicate with via texting on a daily basis.

How many of you have children which you have allowed to have a cell phone with texting option features? Is it partly the responsibility of we the parents, right?

just another way of dumbing america's kids. we are in last in all studies. just pick up the phone and dial. much easier and faster

Iurnnee. Morse code vs. Morris code.

Today's New Order Language is muted at best.
If one cannot spell the words to communicate, the
concise intent of the message is lost.
Correct spelling makes the message clearly understood.
All the 'new language' is just a fad. Much akin to boys/menwearing their pants/trousers etc. like prisoners wear their clothes in prison.
With half of the butt cheeks exposed.
For better access for their fellow inmates, one can only suppose.

It is really sad. Young people can't spell at all, much less write with correct grammar. It is a joke how these people fill out business forms or record business data. I work in a laboratory and it is a joke. Maybe it won't won't matter since the US seems bent and determined to become a third world country. In the past the telephone was considered a vast improvement over Morris code. I wonder when these teens will discover black and white television?

I don't like it when people comment here at the message board and do it in a semi-text form. I remember someone typing an entire paragraph with no punctuation and no caps! Very difficult to follow.

Raven8's right. It's not about a having their own special way to communicate. They just can't spell.

All you have to do is pick up the phone and talk. Cell phones have the whole alphabet on them, teens just don't know how to spell. I've seen it. Crap