Her Point Is

In his online article posted on July 4, 2008 titled '2b or not 2b?," David Crystal claims that the increase in the amount of texting and, consequently, the use of abbreviations and other text-slang, will not be the doom of the English language.  Instead, he asserts that it actually increases the creative capabilities of the users and allows for more avenues of exploration in the area of creative writing.  David also cites numerous studies claiming that children's literacy and vocabulary is actually improved by the use of text-slang.  He emphasizes this by saying, "The most important finding is that texting does not erode children's ability to read and write.  On the contrary, literacy improves. The latest studies... have found strong positive links between the use of text language and  the skills underlying success in standard English in pre-teenage children."
I support Crystal's ideas that texting does improve children's literacy.  These children do, as is states in the article, need to have a basic understanding of spelling and grammar in the first place in order to bend and break the rules.  But I also warn against these abbreviations and such merging into our spoken language.  It is no problem for the older generations who have grown up with a stronger foundation of grammatical structure and did not have mobile phones, but I am worried that the younger generations who begin texting at younger and younger ages may begin to forget their grammar lessons and embrace their text-speak as both their written and spoken forms of communication.  It is not a problem today, as these children still have parents and teachers who have been raised without all these technological innovations, but it may be a problem we encounter in the foreseeable future as the younger generations today begin having children of their own.  Once we reach this point, we may see a breakdown of the English language into an abbreviated, shorthand version of what it is today.