Dealing With Kids And Their Online Lives

                                            
It’s something that is still relatively new. Kids being on the internet. Being so new is what makes it so scary. As a parent seeing how my daughter loves the internet, I can only imagine how dicey is will soon become as she and her friends branch out from Barbie and Nick. I’m sure Facebook and Twitter are not far away. Ugh, what a nightmare. I can’t even stand the idea of Jasmine having a cell phone with a camera on it. I will certainly read up about all the new and upcoming safeguards people and companies are developing.

That being said, I found an interesting piece in The Huffington Post Family section. It’s about learning the crazy acronyms kids use when texting, IM’ing, emailing, etc. Sure, we know LOL, LMFAO, and some other “old” terms that have become part of popular culture. But you know these kids have their own languages already, so it must translate to the computer as well. I can’t even utter the phrase “sexting” without dry heaving.

Here’s some goodies from the article:

There are a number of sites out there that help us decode the many seemingly crazy messages our kids are sending back and forth. Teen Chat Decoder and No Slang have Internet text “translators” to help parents decode these cryptic messages — especially the ones that discuss drinking, drugs and sex. And I can assure you, they do.
As a starter, here are 25 text message acronyms that all parents should know:

1. ASL — Age/Sex/Location
2. BF/GF — Boyfriend/Girlfriend
3. CD9 — Code 9 (means parents are around)
4. DYWTMUS — Do You Want To Meet Up Somewhere?
5. GNOC — Get Naked on Cam
6. GTG — Got to Go
7. IDK — I Don’t Know
8. (L)MIRL — (Lets) Meet in Real Life
9. LOL — Laugh Out Loud
10. MorF — Male or Female
11. MOS — Mom Over Shoulder
12. NIFOC — Naked in Front of Computer
13. P911 — Parent Emergency
14. PAW — Parents are Watching
15. PIR — Parent In Room
16. POS — Parent Over Shoulder
17. PRON — Porn
18. PRW — Parents Are Watching
19. RUH — Are you horny?
20. Sup? — What’s Up?
21. TDTM — Talk Dirty To Me
22. WAUW — What Are You Wearing?
23. WTH L8TR — Want to Hang Later?
24. WTF — What the Fuck
25. WTTP — Want to Trade Pics?

In the case of “sexting,” or sending sexually explicit text messages, it is important to warn your child of 2 things:

1. In most states, teens caught with “sexting pictures” on their phones can actually be charged with possession of child pornography — even if they themselves are under 18, and sometimes even if the images are self portraits.
2. These images can be permanent. It may seem fun and risky to send sexy pictures to a current boyfriend, but what happens when the relationship ends? Can that person really be trusted not to do anything with those images? It’s not a chance your teen should take.