IDK The Future Of Our Grammar :S

Foreign to most of our parents, and partially even foreign to myself, is the new computer lingo that has increasingly spread since the invention of instant messaging. Phrases like: lol, wtf, omg, ttyl, rofl, lmfao, g2g, brb, jk and fyi were the first to arise but now this lingo has been taken to an extreme, some of which I had to Google the meaning too. For example, our public sphere has seen abbreviations like idk(I don't know), pos (parent over shoulder), diku (do I know you), or even H9 (husband in the room...yikes!) the list goes on. Personally I find it a nuisance to try and keep up with them all but I have always been a fan of emoticons :). This lingo is one of the most important aspects that unites all active citizens in the public sphere. It makes the experience of the internet even more unique and distinct from our other relationships by providing us with our own personal code, which is universally understood.
However, is it possible that the more we continue to blog, chat and tweet, the worse our grammar is becoming outside of the cyber world?
A recent article in the Canadian Press has administration speculating that Facebook, texting, and Twitter are to be blamed for the increasing number of post-secondary students who write poorly. The article explains that the University of Waterloo is one of the few schools in Canada that tests their prospective students on their English skills and a shocking one third of them are failing! These are university bound students, who are frequently using "cuz" instead of because in academic papers! One professor in the article even said "Little happy faces ... or a sad face ... little abbreviations," show up even in letters of academic appeal". For me, this is a scary thought. I know I have caught myself a couple times wanting to throw in a few happy faces in emails to professors just to ensure they understood the emotion I intended to express. What do you think? Can these educators blame technology for this rising increase in grammar failure? Should something be done or should we just simply start to expect our students to smarten up and realize that "msn talk" isn't acceptable academically?

And with any new phenomenon, some people criticize and some embrace it. One of my favourite uses of internet lingo was in a McDonald's commercial for their new Big Mac Wrap. In doing this they clearly set out their target audience, and also intrigued others to join the public sphere talk! Hope you appreciate this commercial like I did!