Academics don't normally manage to alter people's way of thinking through their strength of argument.

Anyone interested in language ends up writing about the sociological issues around it.

The internet is an amazing medium for languages.

Texting has added a new dimension to language use, but its long-term impact is negligible. It is not a disaster.

I believe that any form of writing exercise is good for you. I also believe that any form of tuition which helps develop your awareness of the different properties, styles, and effects of writing is good for you. It helps you become a better reader, more sensitive to nuance, and a better writer, more sensitive to audience. Texting language is no different from other innovative forms of written expression that have emerged in the past. It is a type of language whose communicative strengths and weaknesses need to be appreciated.

Language itself changes slowly but the internet has speeded up the process of those changes so you notice them more quickly.

Several of us linguists at that time would record our own kids, just to get some data. There was some literature on it then, but no day-by-day, blow-by-blow examples. I recorded all my children over the years in some shape or form. It's what linguists do. You don't talk to a linguist without having what you say taken down and used in evidence against you at some point in time.