Allow me to chime in on this issue. Not because I want to contradict, but because I would like you to take a look at it from a different point of view.
English is my third language and spelling has always been easy for me in any language. Grammar is a different story, but let's not change the subject ;)
In my native language, we have what you call "phonetic" spelling. Meaning that you spell everything exactly the way you say it. All you have to do is to learn a few simple rules and you can spell any word.
You can't imagine what a difference this can make for a student. No spelling bees, no desperation for kids with no special talent for remembering strings of seemingly illogical consonants and vowels :)
In Italian, for example the sound "ee" is always, without an exception is spelled as "i". In English it can be spelled "ea", "i", "ee", "ie".... let me know if I forgot something :)
I don't know why the English spelling is so complicated. I am sure it must have had a reason hundreds of years ago, but today the whole thing is unnecessary. I think - especially because we are heading towards globalization, and it looks like English is going to be the common language - the spelling should be reformed, and I am sure it will be sometime in the future.
Yes, when I see abbreviations like "U" instead of "you" I get the picture of a teenager with an ipod in his ears, but I can't blame the people who do that. Everybody does a lot of typing nowadays, and I think it is only natural that people want to say more with less effort :)
Yes, traditions are beautiful, but sometimes they have to give way to modernization and progress.