Email -- Improving Your Narrative skills

A new study by a research team in the Netherlands, suggests that e-mail's hybrid nature -- combining talking and writing -- has its own benefits.

"You could say the writing becomes more sloppy, but you could say it becomes more natural. They tell stories, and are motivated because they have a real audience. They are expressing themselves."
-- Bregje de Vries, lead researcher, University of Twente.

The study, to be published in the forthcoming edition of the International Journal of Educational Research is challenging the belief that e-mail and text messaging only have a negative impact on writing skills, reports canada.com.

I wonder about the impact that such "natural writing" will have on writing skills over a period of time? Will it mean the end of grammar and the art of writing as we know it today? While natural writing may ease personal expression, will it be effective when communicating with a large number of people and across geographies?