It's obvious that foul language has a much more substantial place in common conversation. From my own observations, I think that our younger generations are using these terms much looser than in previous years.
Here's why.

First of all, they learned it from somewhere right? The children of today, are the children of parents raised in the 60's and 70's. If you are of that generation, you can concur that life was a little different. My point is that children today, learn their behaviors from their parents. Verbiage that was not acceptable in the 40's and 50's, was in the 60's and 70's. You can then see the trend as to how several terms that were inappropriate 20 years ago, are being commonly used to day.
Also, consider ways we correct and discipline our children, versus what was acceptable 20 years ago. If you would have told the teacher that your father spanked you in 1970, he or she, would have said you probably deserved it. Today if a child reports this, the parents are arrested and the child placed in foster care. With each passing generation, we allow our children to get away with more and more.
Have you listened to the radio lately? I can remember when our hometown radio station first played a song with a swear in it. It was the mid 80's. This action literally caused a controversy in our town. Now if you turn on the local channel, you'll hear plenty of words that would have never been aired 20 years.

I think that society's view as to what is appropriate has changed, and it will continue to change. While I don't agree that it is acceptable I do think that swearing is more present in daily communication that in the past.

Definitely. It used to be considered very, very rude, and at one point, there was mysticism around profanity to the extent that people thought swearing could actually have a physical impact on the world (empower or summon the devil, etc). There are still people who believe that, in fact. Swearing is, of course, still often considered rude in many circles, but it has become so normalized, that many of us hardly notice it unless we're in a business environment or around children.

Our sense of propriety around people we want to impress (in-laws, supervisors at work, prospective employers), and our sense of embarrassment if we slip up around a child still remind us that swearing carries a certain taboo, even if we are comfortable swearing around most people. I think this is fading, however, as the religious fears about swearing die out, and the shock wears off.

I keep my swearing in public to a minimum, because I don't want to turn around and find some kid staring at me wide-eyed (or their parent glaring at me!) and because I guess I feel a certain embarrassment around strangers because I know some people think swearing is proof of ignorance or just a sign that you're too lazy to find a better word, but my swearing at home is pretty rampant, I'll admit. I don't ascribe to the idea that certain words are more powerful or someone different from other words. Directed at a person, words can be hurtful, but just saying the "f" work is not any different from saying "puppy" as far as the universe is concerned.

Listening to my grandmother or my father talk.. no. Perhaps the way they are used has changed but a foul mouth is not a new occurrence. I'd actually stretch to say we use less curse words today as many words have been labled "taboo" that once were perfectly acceptable. My grandma for example loved I mean adored using the word "Bastard" yet that word has been labeled rather politically incorrect these days when all it means is "born out of wedlock". Politically correctness has altered our speech for the worse in my opinion.