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I wasn't being literal. "Knowing the rules before you break them" is a figure of speech. It means that unless people know you're a serious person with something to say, using an alternative format just makes you look stupid. It may be an unfair critique, but it reminds me of a Banksy quote: "All artists are willing to suffer for their work. But why are so few prepared to learn to draw?" The same applies here. There is an inherent beauty to sentence structure, not just content that is completely lost in shorthand texting and messaging.
I did a quick academic literature search for how IM affects literature. Interesting results. It appears that lots of IM and texting give kids more confidence in writing, increases their vocabulary and (surprisingly) spelling skills, but that it decreases reading comprehension and the ability to distinguish non-standard from standard English. Mixed results, it seems.