Having said all this, a part of me does wonder if this is how the English language evolves.

I do agree with this. We are at a point now where finding the shortest way of communicating is becoming the norm. How easy is it to now write a coherent sentence using just emoji?!

I know a few years back, as SMSing became popular, some teachers developed units around the language of SMS, focusing in the different acronyms that were used. Obviously, today we have Twitter, where you need to find ways to keep your content as short as possible, and I also know of teachers who use this platform for teaching students how to write in less than 140 characters.

It's no wonder they struggle when they are taught to use ppl instead of people. I've had students actually write acronyms in essays and reports before. Imagine my horror/amusement to see a student use lol in a formal essay!!