Family
Technology Today: Use this cheat sheet to impress your teens
By
Oct 23, 2006, 22:54

(NC)-For many teens, technology is just a means to a very important end - connecting with their friends. The difference is they have many more channels for socializing - Instant Messaging (IM), email, cell phones, webcams, social networks and texting - often enjoyed simultaneously, along with TV watching and iPod listening. Lipton Iced Tea (www.homebasics.ca) shares a 101 guide for every parent wondering what's going on out there.

Avatars, Signatures, Emoticons

An avatar is a visual online i.d., used when posting to a forum. Signatures, like those used in emails, close off a message and are increasingly likely to be visual. Emoticons are small icons scattered through online text to convey emotions.

Blogging

A small number of tech savvy kids are writing their own blogs (weblogs, or online journals). More read them and post replies.

Cell Phones

A basic essential for most kids for talking, texting, taking photos and videos and creating ringtones - all pretty standard features now. Happily, cell phones are also a great way to enforce check-in times with mom and dad.

Email

To teens, email is the new snail mail, best for sending files, long messages or communicating with "older people."

MSN/IM

Kids can't live without Instant Messaging (IM), of which MSN Messenger is probably the most popular. It's a good thing it's free because teens everywhere use it obsessively. An MSN window (usually two or three or four) is always open for instant chats with friends, often with a web cam for video link-up.

MySpace

MySpace.com is a social network where people of all ages can create a highly personalized web page containing photo and personal details in order to connect with others. Young people usually get their friends to register on the same network and check their MySpace daily for bulletins.

Podcasts

A few teens are generating or listening to podcasts - audio shows people download to their MP3 player or iPod via their computer.

Texting

Texting (text messaging) involves sending a short message via cell phone, in text format. Because it alerts the recipient, it may be used to grab attention and switch to phone or MSN. Messages ignore spelling and punctuation conventions and are hyper abbreviated, as in: "gr8 - c u 2nite".

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