Generally texting and talking on Twitter, Facebook or via instant message is very limiting. There have been countless times that meanings have gotten lost in translation causing me to come off like a complete jerk since when texting you lose all the important parts of a conversation that you get face to face--nonverbal cues like facial expressions, body language, tone, etc. So, to me, it's sad that the internet is becoming the chief mode of communication between people. It is also disappointing that more and more young people are employing acronyms and abbreviations for words, which generally also dumbs down communication. Sometimes, holding a conversation over text or IM is necessary, but other times I get really frustrated when people can't just pick up the phone and call me. At least over the phone, tone isn't lost or misunderstood, though it seems texting culture has even seeped into the way we talk.
Numerous times I have heard people add acronyms into conversations where they just flat out don't make sense. Acronyms like BTW, LOL and TTYL are everywhere in speech, which is a signal to me that we've just gotten plain old lazy. When we have to use an abbreviation to avoid saying two more syllables, something is a little off. And using LOL in conversation makes zero sense. If you're laughing out loud, then you would be doing it, not saying "LOL."
I don't have any actual facts about how chat terms have dumbed down society, but I can bet that younger generations that have grown up in this texting culture, have started to transfer Web lingo to things like papers and assignments. I can't imagine that learning how to text and shorten everything has actually benefited the way young people write or communicate.
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