John Powell's List: "Technology (through television, texting, Facebook posting, and the Internet), has contributed to a increase in literacy skills."

Texting-addled young minds are losing their grip on the English language, according to a new study from Wake Forest. The research, which reveals a correlation between the use of SMS-abbreviations and poor grammar proficiency, comes as bitter sweet vindication for modern teachers who have to waste time decrypting the odd new language of teenagers.

The newest study, conducted by Drew Cingel of Wake Forest University and  S. Shyam Sundar of Penn State University, found that students who self-reported using more texting abbreviation with their friends also performed worse on a grammar proficiency exam. Perhaps most importantly, it wasn’t texting itself, only the use of abbreviations (what the researchers called “adaptations”). “The results of this study lend support to a general negative relationship between text messaging and adolescent grammar skills,” they conclude.