TEXTING LINGO

I have always been bothered by the shortcuts and symbols in text messaging that are now prevalent among those who use this type of communication.  For lack of a better word, I will call it "texting lingo".  The abbreviated words that have been widely accepted since text messaging became one of the most convenient and fastest communication tools ranged widely from a single letter to a combination of letters and numbers used to get across the intended meaning (c for see; 2b for to be, etc.).   I suppose I can understand the necessity for such condensed word forms considering that they are being typed using minuscule letters from an equally tiny instrument.  The time element is also a factor and in the fast-paced society most of us inhabit,  using the "texting lingo" is probably most expedient.  In that sense, I will concede that the end justify the means.

But I will not relinquish the fact that text messaging lingo is faulty and injurious to language and grammar development in whatever vernacular somebody most frequently uses.   It impedes the ability to spell correctly, the skill that is defined as "the forming of words with letters in a conventionally accepted order".  It hinders the recurrent user from cultivating the skills in standard language necessary to advance professionally and in some cases, socially.  Communication is not merely the ability to transfer a message across.  It is the exchange of information through the use of standard language in written or verbal form.  Verbal communication will obviously not sufffer as much as the written form would, but pronounciation will be most likely affected eventually especially for those who speak in a foreign tongue who need to distinguish long sounds vs short sounds of the vowels in the English alphabet.

Maybe I am a little bit harsh in my censure of the practice because I have always believed the ability to communicate well is a yardstick by which a cultured individual is measured.  It is also a criterium for advancement  professionally especially considering that different fields are getting more and more demanding and competitive.   In a world that continually evolves, proficiency in verbal and written communication, especially in the English language,  will always place someone at a huge advantage.  Personally, I am turned off by the texting lingo and feel it is ironic that society has succumbed to the deterioration of language through an undeniably advanced instrument of communication - the cell phone.  But who knows?  Maybe in the not too distant future, this tiny wireless wonder will convey the message, not through unconventional text that an untrained reader such as myself needs to decipher, but in voice form transferred through boundless space in undulating airwaves.  With the utter confusion that so surely will create havoc, will it be a second Tower of Babel then?  We'll just have 2 wyt n c.  Until then I should just probably MMOB (mind my own business, lol!).