The Keypad Solution

Quote: David Crystal, the author of “Txtng: The Gr8 Db8,” told me in an e-mail message that “there’s nothing in texting to suggest spelling reform,” noting that texting relies heavily on abbreviations, which he sees as creative stylings, not systematic improvements. He added that there is very little that is new about most of the abbreviations and lexical shortenings that make texting so maddening to so many. In fact, he said, with the exception of a few recent coinages like LOL, “virtually all the commonly used ones can be found in English a century ago.”
Reaction:  I agree with the quote.  There is nothing too suggest spelling reform.  People use abbreviations everyday.  The new generation just added a few more.  Today's abbreviations are not a new language.  When you see ASAP you know that means As Soon As Possible.  That's not any different then seeing LOL or TTYL.  We haven't changed the way we spell and why should we now just because we're abbreviating the words.  There are going to be more abbreviations as the years go on and we need to get accustomed to it. People text all the time and abbreviate words, so does that mean they can't spell?  Over the years we have survived new technology and new ways of communicating, so why change it? I understand that there are words that are confusing such as comb and tomb but f you change the spelling,  it's not going to prevent abbreviations from occuring. 
References:

Shea, A. (2010, January 22). The keypad solution. MM22. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/24/magazine/24FOB-onlanguage-t.html

English language spelling reform. (2010, June 1). Retrieved from http://www.idebate.org/debatabase/topic_details.php?topicID=800

Related Sources: English Language Spelling Reform
This article gives the pros and cons of a spelling reform