When I was at the ABC some years ago, I remember reading letters sent in by listeners and could pick, fairly accurately, the age of the writers by the standard of their writing. Older listeners - whether they were barristers or bricklayers (the alliteration is deliberate - I read letters from both groups and their writings were comparable) - managed to construct sentences correctly, made no spelling errors and never, for example, used disinterested when they meant uninterested, or confused there with their or they're or inserted it's when they should have written its (or vice versa).
We all lose when we have a looser grip on writing standards.
