Understanding Texting Lingo

Texting has now become a way of life for teenagers, and even preteens.  Even as adults, texting is becoming a part of common communication.  However, the lingo can be confusing and even its own language.  For those new to texting, or parents searching for understanding (and a translator), NetLingo has thousands of definitions that explain the online world of business, technology, and communication — including the largest collection of Internet acronyms and text messaging shorthand.

Rightly, NetLingo suggests that the burden is on parents to keep up with technology and communicate about it with your children.   Given the following statistics, we’ve got to do better:

• 95% of parents didn’t recognize the lingo kids use to let people know that their parents are watching
• 89% of sexual solicitations are made in either chat rooms or Instant Messages
• 20% of children age 10-17 have been solicited sexually online; that’s 1 out of every 5 kids
• 76% of parents don’t have rules about what their kids can do on the computer
• 65% of parents believe that kids do things online that they wouldn’t want their parents to know about
• 4,000,000 children are posting content to the Web everyday

Have You Read?

• Risky behavior in teens on display for all in MySpace age
• Parent’s Guide to Social Networking Sites
• Are You Overexposed?
• Superheros of Today Not Making Boys Into Good Men
• Immunize Your Kids!