I do enjoy proper typing far more than abbreviations, because I believe that such unnecessary abbreviations like "ur," "thx," and even the hilarious ones like "omg" may be teaching the next generation of English-speakers to be lazy about their grammar. Whew... how coincidental that I ranted on and on, and formed a run-on sentence, while discussing proper speech! ^^;
Truthfully, I don't look down upon people who write that way, nor do I think they're stupid. I have relatives who type that way as well, and they're educated people who can communicate perfectly in real life encounters. However, there is a reason people are educated in a certain way, and it's for the sake of knowledge. If the next generation of children grow up using computers from a very young age, which is incredibly likely, what if they all become so accustomed to this slang terminology that they begin to use it in schoolwork? Letters? Job applications? That may sound silly, but it's very possible. Not everyone has intelligence they can simply "turn on" and say, "Oh, maybe the way I've learned to use this in written text is wrong, so I think I'll write it out like it is in the dictionary." They may not even think about it.
Therefore, I do wish people would practice writing words out in full, and I wish they'd use proper punctuation as well. These are good things to practice. It will help them get jobs, communicate successfully, express themselves professionally, and so on. Time is not really an issue, either, because the more they practice, the better their typing will get, and they'll be able to converse just as quickly without abbreviating. For example, I'm a lucky sot; I've been around computers ever since I was about two years of age, even though they were monochrome beasts back then. Because I loved them, I played various games on them while growing up, including educational and typing tutorial programs.
As a result of all this, I can type 90WPM without errors, and 120WPM with errors. I can tell you that the next generation of children, who will probably be far more likely to have access to computers than I did (and I lived in a legitimate ghetto!), will be spending a lot of time in front of the monitor screen, too. They may be able to type very quickly when they're grown, but they may not have practiced proper spelling, grammar, and overall form while they were learning. In adulthood, that could hurt them.
Of course, the adults who type that way are just being lazy, too. ^^ I hope.
Just my two cents on the matter. Some people may think those are ridiculous words, but I believe that those who want to sit and think about it will realize how likely it is. Though not all of us are, very many people are impressionable and, to a degree, gullible. If they are not encouraged to do it the right way, they may never do it properly at all.
Edited, Thu May 20 06:13:12 2004 by RazMasters