It’s your private connection, a way to be in touch with your buds, immediately. In all likelihood, many of your parents don’t even know about it: The phone is silent, dinners are uninterrupted and mom or dad never catch you hanging with your friends late at night.
What’s the secret? You’re all chatting online, using instant messaging to keep up with school gossip and grouse about homework.
Kids, research indicates, are beginning to prefer IM to the time-tested tradition of the telephone. Nearly three out of four online teens (13 million) are using IM, according to a study of kids ages 12 to 17 by the Pew Internet and American Life Project. The study also shows that 1 in 5 kids consider IM as the primary means of keeping in touch with friends.
The popularity of instant messaging is a no-brainer to most of you. Kids are some of the most active and tech-savvy members of the Net population, and IM fits right in with downloading music and sharing pictures or other files. Sharing is a common theme, too, whether it’s a simple chat or using IM’s direct-connect features to pass along a picture or an Avril Lavigne song.
Daniel N., 14, of Berwyn, says instant messaging is awesome for monitoring who’s around throughout the night. “Being on the phone isn’t as cool,” Daniel says. “Now I can talk to all my buddies all the time and I never have to worry about forgetting to tell them something after I hung up.”
If you’re not yet connected, here’s the 411: Instant messaging allows people to send messages that are delivered in real time. It requires a downloadable program or comes packed in with America Online and other online services. Once installed, it lets you carry on one or more conversations simultaneously in text windows that pop up on your computer screen.
IM’s killer appeal is it allows you to talk to several of your pals at once. Scientists use the term “split attention” to describe the practice, and research shows that on average a young user will be chatting with three friends simultaneously.
“I’m always on, and always talking to as many friends as I can,” says Mandy L., 14, of Schaumburg. “My mom thinks it’s crazy to talk to more than one person, but it’s easy, really. I can’t imagine ignoring a window popping up.”
Part of the attraction of IM stems from its customizable list of options. Kids can pick and choose buddy icons (a tiny picture or graphic that appears next to your name and in chat windows), select type fonts and colors, and set privacy filters to their liking. If, for instance, a user wants to appear offline to a particular person but still be online talking to others, a simple setting change makes that possible.
“It [IM] can be kind of clique-y in a way,” says Marissa K., 12, of Plainfield. “Sometimes a few people join in a group chat and don’t invite others, but there’s usually a good reason. It’s just like at school, you don’t call everyone over to talk about everything.”
But everything is exactly what’s being talked about online. While many of IM’s uses are social, such as flirting, gossiping or just chatting, some of its uses are more school-oriented. Lots of kids get together on line to do homework. Some teachers even pass out their screen names so students can follow up with questions on schoolwork.
While IM has proved to be fun and useful, it is not flawless. Teachers are already citing cases of kids using wireless devices to send messages to friends during class.
There’s also the issue of privacy, as teens commonly report getting messages from strangers. Some new programs, such as Yahooligans! (from Yahoo!), are designed for kids, and feature extra security features.
Typing the talk
If you’re going to chat online, you need to know the lingo. Instant messaging is quick, for sure, but everyone knows you can’t type as fast as you talk. To combat slow typers and cumbersome keystrokes, IM users have developed a language all their own. Here’s a quick guide to IM shorthand:
BBFN – Bye bye for now
BBL – I’ll be back later
BCNU – Be seeing you
BFN, B4N – Bye for now
BG – Big grin
BO – Brain overload
BRB – I’ll be right back
BTW -By the way
CMIIW – Correct me if I’m wrong
CU – See you
CUL8R – See you later
EG – Evil grin
F2F – Face To Face
FIIOOH – Forget it. I’m out of here
FITB – Fill in the blank
G – Grin
G2G – I’ve got to go
IMHO – In my humble opinion
IMO – In my opinion
ILU – I love you
JK – Just kidding
KIT – Keep in touch
L8R – Later
LOL – I’m laughing out loud
LTNC – Long time no chat
LTNS – Long time no see
LTL – Let’s talk later
NE1 – Anyone
NP – No problem
OMG – Oh my gosh
POS – Parents over shoulder (change subject)
ROFL – Rolling on the floor laughing
TIC – Tongue in cheek
TMI – Too much information
TTFN – Ta Ta For Now
TTYL – I’ll talk to you later
TX – Thanks
U2 – You too
UW – You wish
WB – Welcome back
Safety first
– Never put personal information, including your real name, your parents’ name, your age, address, phone number or name of your school, into your user profile or messages.
– If someone is bothering you on IM, put him or her on Ignore User. If an IM conversation becomes too personal or disturbing, disconnect.
– Never give out your password.
