Some basic abbreviations are understandable on IRC and general chat. Using it on emails and even Facebook, however, is inexcusable. You shaved off 1.33 seconds at the expense of sounding brain-damaged. Yay!

The weirdest thing about internet slang is that it is not always about saving time, some people will spell my as mah; they add an extra letter to make sure they spell incorrectly. If there is a way to be more wannabe, I don't know what it is.

You may dismiss this as a passing fad, but I think the roots lie deeper. A person sloppy on the keyboard is more likely to be sloppy in other spheres of his or her life as well. I judge people by the way they type - you should too.