"constructions like "parents, computers" aren't helping the cause of literacy much"

Quite so, and this is one where you really can blame the Americans. This construction is standard English in the States, used by headline writers of all stripes and even the "proper" news on NPR.

It makes me grind my teeth every time I hear it, because it's purely about reducing word count for its own sake and really does make it hard to understand the sentence. My own theory is that the Strunk & White edict about conciseness has been taken too far, and this is not the only example by any means.

-- An Ex-Pat Brit