With younger people, teenagers, children, I think the main appeal of swearing is the fact that they will get in trouble for it, and therefore seem 'cool' to other kids. Especially as it has become common place for CD's (or downloads, whatever) to have 'explicit lyrics' and it's so common on TV - Gordon Ramsey makes his living by using the 'F-Word' excessively.
I don't swear nearly as much as I and I've never really found swearing offensive. I grew up with my mother shouting at me if I said 'God' or 'damn'. I used to say 'bother' quite a lot and people made fun of me for it. Most of the time when I was younger and people thought they were cool for swearing I thought they were pretty silly, especially as half the time they didn't know what the words they were using really meant. Now that I'm older I tend to use silly words in the place of swear words, like 'bummer' or 'mittens'. It makes me, and other people, giggle quite a bit.
But why is it so offensive nowadays? 'Back in the day' some of the words we consider offensive nowadays were part of every day language, the meaning has totally changed. I feel that nowadays whether a swear word is 'bad' or not depends on the emphasis put on it. I think swear words have little meaning if they are used in an everyday sentence. If someone is clearly upset/excited/angry and use a swear word you know it means something.
WikiHow - How to Stop Swearing
The Origins and Common Usage of British Swear-words
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