ChangeWaves links to a new Pew report:

The survey revealed that in school assignments:
64% of teens have used “informal” chat-style writing
50% of teens don’t use proper capitalization and punctuation
38% use common Internet-speak abbreviations such as “LOL” and “OMG”
25% have used emoticons–yes, emoticons, those annoying symbols to denote mood :(
Link

For a long time spoken language has been forked - with slang and “verlan” (the art of inverting syllabus in French) being obvious examples. People would simply adapt their language to the social context, switching back and forth depending on their interlocutor. This is now happening with writing which of course worries parents and educators.

But are we really seeing the disappearance of good writing? Aren’t kids simply considering schools more informal places where you don’t have to behave in a special way, and therefore allow themselves to use “Internet-speak”.

They get junk food and TV shows in their classrooms, so why should they act differently than at home?

Brian Aladesuyi, 17, received a new Jeep in exchange for a promise: he would never drive it outside his hometown. His father, chief executive of the security firm EarthSearch Communications, used EarthSearch’s Web site to map Kennesaw’s boundaries into the Jeep’s onboard computer, surrounding the entire city with an electronic fence.
But when his father took a business trip to Brazil, Brian decided to try his luck. Brian drove to Marietta, a neighboring town. Seconds after Brian breached the invisible wall, his father received a text message on his mobile phone [and] sent a message commanding the computer to disable the Jeep’s engine.
Link

The wonderful possibilities of parenting 2.0. Maybe the reason why nobody cares about surveillance devices is that we all see way too many potential usages for ourselves…