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Yeah. My friend got banned for saying "That's hot." once. >___>
They also went on a random banning spree once.

Not my point, my point is they spend all day playing games instead of actively trying to learn, and even the games that do help them learn don't fully compensate for that.

I think it's due to laziness. I also think it's idiotic that someone needs a college degree to work with wood and tools, and yet, you don't have to have a license to make software. D: I'll admit, I have friends that use 'txt tlk', but it takes me forever to reply due to the fact I'm having to translate it. I swear, I saw someone use an eleven-letter internet acronym. Who the hell is going to know what that means?! The only internet acronym I use is 'brb', and I barely even use that. Also, I get seriously pissed off if any of my friends (Or anyone in general.) uses the forbidden acronym. The forbidden acronym is 'lol'. xp Seriously people, 'xD' just explains it so much better than that. xp

Edit: I just realized somthing. eek I don't even click on the little emoticons on the side. I type those out, too. xDD

Same.
Sucks to be 12. <___<

I only type "lol" when I am actually laughing. That's only when I am chatting on MSN or something like that though, never on gaia. If I am really laughing hard I will type something like "Hahahahahahahahaha!!!" with no more than three exclamation points. As for "Ah," I really only do that if I am truely uninterested in what someone is saying but I don't want to offend them. "ic" just pisses me off, you can't even put a space in there, change the "c" to an "s" and type out "ee..." That's pathetic... I see... it takes no effort to type that.

Hello... popping in to put my veiw in the conversation...

I think the loss of literacy is pretty much a mix of everything mentioned. But, I have one more thing to point out. I live in Philly, where people say, "wooder, y'all, 'sup?, tight," and, one that annoys me the most, leave out the verb when saying, "You are (insert adjective here.)" It turns into something like... "you stupid!"

After observing all of these dialects, I've come to a conclusion that, things all start off with one person. For example: let's say one person has come to America from another country, and, with English as his or her second language, says things like, "You happy?" etc. He meets someone, and they talk, this someone being completely literate. They hear the way this person speaks, and, thinking it sounds nice, starts saying, "You happy?" instead of, "Are you happy?" Now, the person from the different country hears the American saying this, and, thinks for sure it's proper English, so, he or she never realizes how badly they are pronouncing or saying things. Not that it's their fault at all.

No, the fault falls on the American, who, spreads his words around. Things start to mold around this speech, and, voila! You have a grammatically challenged country.

Although, everything else you people have said is true as well.

I hate chatspeak.

Well, I find it to be laziness with many, and I use to think it was pure laziness with all. Yet about a week ago my friend was doing her homework and I looked at it...she is a terrible speller. She cannot spell worth s**t. Sorry for being so straight forward but it is true. On MSN she uses "txt tlk"... I knwo alot of people who do and it is quite irritating. BUT I never thought it was do too the fact that they actually do not know how to spell the words! With most it is pure laziness, trying to type faster, stuff like that. But with others in addition to laziness, they cannot spell.
When I speak with correct grammar and such on msn, I get yelled at or critisized, for being literate, while I cannot read most of what is said. If you have the newer version of msn (7.0 or 7.5) then you will notice that there are "custom emoticons" adn those make the "txt tlkrz" ever more n00bish [Doubt that to be a real word but it sounds kool].
So bascially I find the reasoning for the illiteracy not only laziness, but lack of education.