I know by saying this I am only going to look like an old pedantic fool, but is anyone else bothered by the complete butchering of the English language that text messaging has caused?

I take two neighborhood teenagers to school everyday and they say that they even use the abbreviated spelling (usually phonetic or just initals) in written letters, emails, etc. I have a nephew who is 15 and that child's writings is completely incoherent with the numerous spelling, grammatical and punctuation mistakes.

Anyway, I am an English major and I write, so maybe this is making me cling to something that is dying, but it just seems a crying shame to see written language butchered as such.

(By the way, I am not talking about just random, occasional misspellings, but the complete obliviousness and lack of regard for spelling, grammar and punctuation rules.)

Does this bug anyone else, or am I alone here?