One of the problems with the loss of the semi-colon isn't so much as people not wanting to use it so much as people not knowing how to use it. There's nothing quite like the American education system for making the use of language exceptionally boring. With the increasing rationalization of everything our society does, we've streamlined the way we use language. Long, convoluted sentences have been parsed to their most efficient. Think of it in a cost-benefit way. The further we move along in time, the more we rationalize things. That means that semi-colons, which are inherently a part of dense and complex sentences, don't see much action. They're getting replaced by commas. More often, they're replaced by periods and complex sentences are broken up to make them simpler to understand. USA Today is one of the top selling papers for that very reason. It took the complexity out of journalism and replaced it with very short articles, lots of colors, and nuggets of information.

Complex sentences have their place. It's impossible to communicate complex ideas without them. Politicians and journalists do their best to parse complex issues into sound bites for the masses, but how can you really discuss how plans for free trade agreements effect the various strata of society without complex sentences? Complex sentences require semi-colons. In all honesty, politicians don't. They just claim that their plans will bring jobs and improve the economy. They'll give very shallow, surface reasons how. They'll leave out the complex social and economic explanations for whatever reasons they leave it out. This is just one example of the dumbing down of language because complex language doesn't fit in space and time constraints.

After a few years of text messaging, I'll be surprised if anyone knows how to capitalize, let alone use proper punctuation.