Keeping Your Kids Safe With Technology

Todays teenagers are more connected to technology as a part of their daily lives than any previous generation. This includes the prevalent use of computers, cell phones, iPods, video games,
and television in our kid’s lives. There are a great deal of benefits, as well as concerns and potential problems that accompany this fact. As a technology enthusiast and an advocate for parents and
kids, I am very interested in helping families to keep their kids safe while using technology. Keep an eye on this portion of my monthly newsletters for information about topics such as, cyberbullying,
sexting, using social media safely and video games. I will also be writing about how to parent what has been termed the “Net Generation” and providing therapeutic recommendations for kids that
may be having various difficulties with the use of technology. As always, an involved, informed and caring parent is the best ingredient for a healthy child or teenager.

Sample of the top 20 Internet Acronyms every parent needs to know:

POS – Parent Over Shoulder
PIR – Parent In Room
P911 – Parent Alert
PAW – Parents Are Watching
PAL – Parents Are Listening
LMIRL – Let’s Meet In Real Life

Many of the internet acronyms are sexual in nature (not listed here) and are used to hide a teen’s conversations about potentially risky behaviors from their parents. Don’t be automatically worried
if you see your teen texting or emailing using acronyms, because there are many that are harmless, such as CYO for see you online, DTRT for do the right thing or LOL for laugh out loud. It may
be a good idea to ask your teen to share the meaning or definition of a word or acronym that you do not understand. If they hesitate, it may mean you have a reason for some concern.

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