Our present-day society is completely obsessed with the concept of making things bigger, better, stronger and faster. Constant innovations and upgrades are the driving force in our global economy. In the technological world, especially, speed and compactness run the market. Flat-screen computer monitors and sleek cell-phones are just a few of these new inventions.
As we all know, children imitate the behavior of their parents and role models. If parents want something faster, children want something faster. In a child’s case, however, we see this desire for updates in the world of online lingo.
The countless hours children spend chatting on their buddy lists has trained them to resist the normal rules of grammar, spelling and punctuation. Lately, the younger crowd has journeyed into the world of acronyms with their buddies.
Youths no longer exercise simple online lingo like “LOL, laugh out loud” or “BRB, be right back”; it has developed into a language much more sophisticated. Five and six letter acronyms are now used that substitute for an entire sentence.
The issue that has been raised recently is negative connotations that go side-by-side with the acronyms. Some new shocking discoveries of current online lingo reported by MSNBC:
“GYPO,” means “get your pants off.” Talk dirty to me is substituted with, “TDTM.” Another acronym is “NIFOC” which is code for, “naked in front of the computer.” Parents should be aware of “POS,” or “parents over shoulder.” Perhaps the most startling is BOHICA, which means “bend-over here it comes again.”
Sophomore history major Charles Jaxel is a constant instant-messenger user. He admits to using online lingo, but is shocked at the new updated acronyms.
“I had no idea that kids were using such foul terms online. It is just sickening. It makes me not want to have kids. If I do though, I’ll definitely watch what my kids are talking about online,” Jaxel said.
A child getting into trouble on the Internet has always been a top concern of the parents. The Internet can potentially be a breeding ground for sexual predators and explicit material that should not be viewed by younger eyes.
Alicia MacGregor is a grade-school teacher and mother of three young children. She was completely unaware of this current online lingo. “This is just one more danger for my children to get into and for me to worry about. Maybe I’ll just hold-off on getting that new computer we were going to buy until they have matured,” MacGregor said.
The new codes that children use for communicating are vague and are tough for parents to regulate. In the hectic lives of parenting children, it may seem unrealistic to monitor everything a child does. For safety reasons, it is imperative that parents stay involved in their children’s lives and pay attention to what they are doing.
Posted to the web by Shane Evans
