Stephany Springer

A Parental Guide to Text Messaging



Posted: Monday, June 25, 2007

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I have come to realize that I am officially old. Yes, I am admitting it. I am about to say something that I heard my parents and grandparents say a million times. I have to admit I am a little shocked about it coming out of my mouth. "The kids and teenagers of today have their own language. Most times I can not even understand them."

Recently, one of the cell phone commericals made light of this scenario. I laughed hysterically as a mom talked with her tween about the amount of text messages on the cell phone bill. It was like the girl was talking in code with all of the abbreviations. Teenagers today seldom do email. They live by texting or on instant messaging programs. This change in technology has led to the change in their communication -- leaving us parents scrambling to understand.

So I decided to do a little research. What I have learned is that the kids of today have an acronym for everything in the English language. Here is a list of the most commonly used acronyms by teenagers and their meanings:

BFF-Best Friend Forever

LOL - Laugh Out Loud

BRB - Be Right Back

CUL8R - See You Later

IMO - In My Opinion

HTH - Here To Help

WTH - What The Heck

AFAIK - As Far As I Know

IIRC - If I Recall Correctly

OMG - Oh My God!

AFK - Away From Keyboard

ROFL - Rolling On The Floor Laughing

YT? - You There?

Some more that parents should definitely be concerned or familiar with are as follows:

P911 - my parents are coming!

PA - parent alert

PAL - parents are listening

PIR - parent in room

POS - parent over shoulder

A/S/L? - age, sex, location

A/S/L/M/H? -  age, sex, location, music, hobbies

Then probably the one that is most overlooked is the one that has to do with teenage love. Yes, no longer do teenagers do the cutesy I luv U! or something of that matter. You have to know the code. The code is 143. In teenage text world that means none other than "I love You".

My advice is to get schooled just to be on the safe side. It is important as parents to know what is going on in your child's life. Unfortunately, it is not going to be an easy task. It is amazing the amount of acronyms kids can store up in their mind, but not have the materials for tests memorized.

There is a 13-page booklet published by Parentalmonitoringsoftware.com. The online group offers a downloadable pdf to help parents begin to decode the secret language. The pdf can be downloaded at http://www.parentalmonitoringsoftware.com/parental-monitoring/printable-acronyms-pdf-decoding-internet-conversations/9

Check it out and begin safeguarding those you love.
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