LOL and other monstrosities

Today's rant: spelling and the bastardization of the English language.

I first felt the need to rant to anyone and everyone about said subject when Avril Lavigne came out with her darling little ditty "Sk8r boi". Do I need to say more? I mean - look at the title! Not only does she insert a number into a word (for no apparent reason), she also PURPOSELY misspells a simple, three-letter word.

And the reason I feel the need to rant and rave again is because of a little web site you may have heard of... it's called Facebook. You know of this, no?

While checking out the walls of my "friends" (people who have added me but who I don't really know at ALL), I've noticed the absolutely atrocious spelling and grammar of teens. I realize I'm putting myself at risk of sounding like an old fuddy duddy here, but if I have to look at "lmao" one more time at the end of a sentence, I might hurt someone.

Here are a few examples of why I'm fearful for the future of the younger generation:
"Hai! I am at school. Lol Oh yah, yooh know I am cool."
"i kno i am a great presence in everyones life"
"heyy... good to see u at the dance. whtssup?"

This one uses no punctuation whatsoever:
"lmao nice status the pics ate going up right about now im not taggin any of them yet cause i dont have the time ill do that tonight"

So, um... yeah. Now, I'm not saying that spelling has to always be perfect, especially on something like Facebook. But if this is how people get used to writing day in and day out... how long is it before bad spelling and grammar takes over the universe? Can you imagine our newspapers? Or magazines or resumes or advertising?

Please, everyone. Remember what you're taught in school. Remember that punctuation is your friend. And remember that spelling words with extra letters or shortening entire words down to two vowels isn't the way of the future.

Thanks.

PS: OMG, I'll BRB.