Is Writing the same thing as Communicating?

It depends on who you ask, apparently. The Pew Internet and American Life project, which is a non-partisan entity that studies the effects of our connectivity on our culture, has been surveying teens about their writing habits. The written report is available here. It's a pretty interesting read. Eighty five percent of teens engage in some form of electronic communication, such as email, text messages, or comments on social networking sites. However, 60% of them don't consider this to be "writing." Yet about 2/3 of them will admit that the informal style of electronic communication has seeped into their formal writing in the form of emoticons such as ;-) or acronyms such as OMG (Oh My God) or LOL (Laugh Out Loud).

So, then, is it reasonable to think that maybe this informal writing can affect the quality of formal writing? I can only speak from my experience as a community college teacher, and I see the results in class regularly. Maybe it's an education issue, if the students don't see their scribbles on a Facebook wall as "writing." Maybe it just means that the language is evolving - wouldn't be the first time.