Is it just me, or do does everyone get rid of the status effect moves first, and just using the attacks that deal damage. I feel like I am playing the game wrong for never using Leer or moves like it!

Back in the days when I played Red/Blue (and then the excellent LeafGreen), I used status effects all the time. I just picked up Platinum just for the heck of it and I plan to utilize those moves there too.  I didn't find them very interesting at first until I discovered that just one Leer gives me quite the advantage over the AI. Use them, experiment with them. They're a great tactical advantage most of the time.  
 
As for playing the game wrong.. well, as long as it's a fun game to play for YOU in your way, then it shouldn't matter.

Oh, crap. Don't tell me I'M playing the game wrong now... ;)

I always used the offensive moves. Maybe Leer, but that's only in like between levels 10-20. By the time my main pokemon is high enough level, I have no need for it as I'm focused on beating the crap out of everything.  
 
Works well enough for me.

I don't really do much putting opponents to sleep or poison, but paralyzation and burns I use frequently. 

I don't use them that often. I'm more of just a ruthless offensive player that goes for the jugular right away with the most powerful move I have.  I do use moves like Poisonpowder that cause status ailments, but not movies like Leer that affect stats.  

Against the computer, most strategies aside from an all-out offense are kinda useless.  However, against other players when you cannot switch your pokemon after KO'ing an opponent, many more strategies suddenly become very useful.  There are baton pass strategies for offense and tanking strategies for defense that utilize stat changing moves to the fullest, for example.
 
Players who are used to relying solely on sweeping like in the single player game usually get beaten by other strategies because they don't know or have the proper counters.

Leer and growl are simply weak. A move that greatly lowers defense, like screech, can have its uses, or something that lowers two stats at once. 
 
I used to play with an all-out offense in mind, simply sticking with 4 offensive moves of different types between my Pokemon, but now I'll generally have 2 support moves and 2 different types of attacks per Pokemon. Example: synthesis for healing, sunny day for powering up solar beam and fire attacks, solar beam as an attack, and something like a rock/electric/ground/water attack to cover my bases in case I'm up against something I'm weak against.
 
For a defensive Pokemon, you want a healing ability, a defense-raising ability, a status ailment move like will-o-whisp (burning a Pokemon halves (quarters?) its physical attack power), and a basic attack, specifically something like seismic toss if your defensive Pokemon doesn't have a whole lot of attack power himself.

" Is it just me, or do does everyone get rid of the status effect moves first, and just using the attacks that deal damage. I feel like I am playing the game wrong for never using Leer or moves like it! "

" I don't really do much putting opponents to sleep or poison, but paralyzation and burns I use frequently.  "

To me: a move that increase or decrease a stat by one level are useless (like Growl only decreases the foe's Attack attribute). But those that either increases or decreases multiple stat attributes (like how Calm Mind increases the player's Special Attack and Special Defense) or increases or decreasesa specific stat attribute by two levels (like how Swords Dance increases the player's Attack) are useful.

So theres been alot of talk about competitive pokemon, anyone got any videos or shoutcasts of these games?

It depends on the Pokemon. For example a Ninjask from Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald is a fairly poor Pokemon on its own, with fairly poor defence and special defence, but high attack and extremely high speed. Utilising its naturally learnt Swords Dance, however, makes it able to kill most Pokemon its level in one hit. It's fantastic. On the other hand, Pokemon like Tyranitar and Hitmonchan don't need these attacks as much IMHO, because Tyranitar and Hitmonchan relies on taking down things in one turn, Hitmonchan utilising Pokemons weaknesses with its variety of punches, and Tyranitar doesn't need Swords Dance-it'll need that one space for something that'll hopefully damage Flying Pokemon. However, each Pokemon should have something that changes stats or status.

Tail Whip and stuff, man. All my Pokemon in HeartGold are around lvl 6-9. I keep their status effects because its always nice to be able to take down defense, up your attack, or slow down your opponent for a small advantage.

I keep certain status effect moves, but usually just keep ones that deal detrimental status effects on the enemy. 
Like, I'll keep things like Supersonic/Confuse Ray or Thunder Wave or Poison Powder simply because I'll usually use them as an opener in a match, then proceed to start dealing heavy hits. 
However, I usually only keep one of those move types per Pokemon, and actually rather prefer moves that actually deal damage while also applying status effects.  They're just more useful.

In player-vs-player matches, the status effect stuff is, in a lot of cases, essential for success. Just having a team of high-HP tanks doesn't mean much when an equally high-HP WIgglytuff has incapacitated all their attacks by putting all the Pokemon to sleep.

I would use them if they showed you how much it dropped/raised.