[MMM]

I remember in the mid-90s there was a fear in Japan of teenagers losing the ability to read and write because of "poke-bell" or pager abbreviations. I think they allowed for about 40 characters (much less than Twitter's 140) and all kinds of abbreviations and smileys abounded in the purely numeric inputing. (You would have to use a phone keypad to input a message to your friend). Two-number combinations would make one hiragana or katakana character. 01 for あ, 02 for い, 03 for う, etc.

Somehow that branch of linguistic barbarism never actually led to the collapse of Japan's youth, (now in their 30s).

When I see LOL or ROTFL on a résumé, then I will fear for the future. Somehow young people figure out how to do it right when it counts.