Cruel Winter Sky
I did read the whole thread, actually. What I found was a bunch of people claiming moral superiority because they follow a perceived set of rules and others don't, references to studies with conclusions that don't really make sense and aren't cited, and complaints about an imaginary societal decay which doesn't injure or even in any way affect the person complaining. To be fair, there's not too much good material in the rebuttals either.
Wait. Neither side presents a good argument, so that means you just get to pick which side actually sucks?
Cruel Winter Sky
There are some people who use text messaging services who also have poor understanding of or a clear disregard for formal American Standard English style conventions. That's fact. But 1) I see no reason to call informal or nonstandard style conventions "worse" than formal ones (except on the justification of "it's just the rules," see my reference to anti-gay arguments),
Wow. That's the worst comparison I've ever seen. And I'm only talking about logic.
'Rules' about being gay or anti-gay involve legal laws and arguments about morals.
'Rules' about writing follow standards that reflect ones ability to be articulate and coherent.
By your analogy, either gays learn to be straight in school in order to read straight books and be gay only when its cheaper, or people cna't change that they are born illiterate.
Cruel Winter Sky
2) Occam's Razor: "people who use 'poor' style will use it in all forms of communication" is simpler and involves fewer extraordinary claims than "texting corrupts 'good' style".
This is proof you didn't read anything. Ignoring a report that was cited about China, its a psychological fact how a habit forms, and that kids have turned in text-talk reports because the individual couldn't tell the difference in when it was appropriate.
Not to mention you mean 'proper style' (arguing against that means you're either illiterate and proud or like to be counter culture just to be angry at something). Both of these are easily explained by psychology and need to be nipped int he bud or you will be developing bad habits, both physically and mentally, which CAN hinder your ability to lead a normal life--gay or not.
This is simple stuff that you don't even need basic psychology for. It's called common sense.
Cruel Winter Sky
Oh, and there's such a thing as "hyperbole." I use it sometimes.
Which is odd, as I haven't in this thread. I have pointed out that although its up to the individual to take it upon themselves to be responsible to learn the difference, it has become a big enough problem, despite the source of the stupidity of the individual not having been pin pointed.