The disappearance of the phrasal verb

Has anyone else noticed that phrasal verbs are vanishing from American English, as sanctioned by the New York Times if not the New Yorker (which still spells focussed, thank god, with 2 s's). Soon we'll be getting 'alot'--one word?

Phrasal verbs (I think some people call them modal verbs) are the ones that come with a preposition attached; eg, look over an article, run up a bill. But what about 'mull over'? Nope, it's become 'mull' just as 'hang out' has become 'hang' ('I'm just going to hang with my friends'). Soon we'll be back to baby books, with a basic vocabulary of 25 one-syllable words, or a few grunts, like one of my neighbours, if I meet him on a good day (otherwise he ignores me--really wouldn't like to meet him after dark in the garage).

Am I sounding cranky? Too bad. You should have been at our HOA (condo association) meeting last night.