In my experience, the only people who send text messages this way are the parents of children who have a cell phone. Text abbreviations were used at a time when typing on a phone was difficult, but now that we can use our thumbs to type (or swipe) fully expanded words on a virtual qwerty keyboard, most people have abandoned the kind of spelling you're displaying.

My co-workers' (ranging in age from 18 to upper-50s) txt's beg to differ.

Ugly to us maybe, but that won't stop your kids from being fluent in it.