"And so it is rather bizarre that the first widespread change in how people spell English words appears to have come from a group of (largely) young people sending text messages to one another with cellular phones and other electronic devices" (Ammon Shea).
Reaction:
In the article it said that many very important people such as presidents and others have had no success in changing the english language and how words are spelled. Well, knowing this makes this quote seem more realistic to me. When kids and young adults are texting they don't care what is correct or incorrect spelling as long as it is understandable. The other key aspect is how fast they can get their message across which makes abbreviations and shortened mispelled words very common in text messages. This change in how people spell is in large part to the fact that it is such a large group that just really doesn't care what the people in charge of the english language and spelling have to say. If this group continues to grow, then who knows, it might spread all the way up the chain of command and these changes in spelling could become accepted into the english language.
Here is a cartoon of a tachers teaching a class some abbreviations commonly used in text messages.
References:
http://www.cartoonstock.com/
Ammon Shea, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/24/magazine/24FOB-onlanguage-t.html.
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