Mutt Media NY | Daily Bone 5.8.09 Taking Social Networking to a new level. What’s on your mind?

I woke up this morning and had my tea, looked through the newspapers and began to check my online accounts – same routine as usual. Mixed in with the typical status updates was a glaring remark from a teenager who is one of my “friends” on Facebook who proclaimed, “_____________(insert name) just found out his dad is moving out”. This was followed by a barrage of comments from other friends telling this teen how sorry they are to hear this sad news.

I am dumbfounded…by this news, by the manner in which it was delivered and by the public responses to such a personal upset in his life. Clearly he needed to talk this out and this just happened to be his communication tool of choice, but what does this say about our evolving society and how our children cope?

Unfortunately, separation and divorce have become almost commonplace. But status updates on such a personal level seem disturbing to me and are shedding light on a trend. Never has the question, “What’s on your mind?” felt so loaded as it does for me today.

Mutt Media discusses taking Facebook Status Updates to a whole new level

On a personal level, this is upsetting, but in this situation in particular, I know the family will be ok…they are all good people. It furthers my thinking on this subject though. Don’t know how many reading this read the book or saw the movie, “He’s Just Not That Into You” but Drew Barrymore delivers one of the most funny and telling dialogue in the film when she tells her friend that she is (and I am paraphrasing) “exhausted” from chasing the different modalities of messaging.

We can video chat, instant message, BBM, text, leave a voicemail, use a pager (very retro, it seems), tweet, report our status and the list goes on. We can communicate instantly without ever really connecting and to take it one step further, people are really doing a lot of their living – totally online.

I personally feel lucky to have grown up in a different time while still being an active participant in this constantly-evolving technological boom we find ourselves in the midst of. There is an expanding gap for our children but they don’t even feel it because that’s all they know. I already find myself sounding like my parents when I tell my kids “when I was your age, we didn’t even have cell phones” in response to my daughter’s request to upgrade to a Blackberry. She tells me she needs it and that a bunch of her friends have one. She’s 11. I feel like I’m living in upside-down world but then again, I am the most guilty enabler. After all, wasn’t it me that text her to come down and set the table?

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Mutt Media | Daily Bone 5.7.09 | LEET or 1337 The language your kids may be speaking – are you fluent?

The following definition was copied (with some edits by me)  from http://www.wikihow.com.

LEET (1337) is a written language used in online gaming, e-mails, text messaging, and other electronic communication. The root of the term “leet” is the word “elite”–translated as 31337. 1337 was initially developed as an exclusionary language: a way to encode text so that messages could only be read by the initiated. The defining characteristic of 1337 is substitution of symbols and numbers for letters (for example, in the term “1337,” 1=L, 3=E and 7=T), but the language has also developed to include intentional misspellings, phonetic spelling, and new words.

H4XORZ | Translation: HACKERS Licence Plate

I’ve taken some time to try to become familiar with this cryptic language, but, truthfully I find that it’s more trouble than it’s worth. However, if my children were frequently using it, I would make it my business to become fluent!

From what I can tell, LEET has been around for a really long time and has been widely used in certain chat rooms and alot on various gaming sites.

Rather than try to give you a primer on the language (there are many sites that you can find with a simple Google search) I thought I’d just provide a little social commentary on this phenomenon.

Its of course, remarkable that some of our children would go to great lengths to communicate with one another cloaked in a different language but not at all surprising. Does anyone remember Pig Latin? Ubby Dubby Language? You had to be a fan of the original ZOOM back in the 70’s for that one. So my point here is that we needn’t be shocked. We have all adopted some form of LEET into our texting and emailing. The symbol online for a heart is <3, which kind of looks like a heart turned on it’s side. LOL, ROFL, BRG, G2G are all little pieces taken from the LEET handbook.

I am hopeful that your kids are not discussing anything too crazy, but you probably already know the answer to that question. If you suspect that some topics (underage drinking, drugs, sex) are being discussed that you haven’t yet covered at home, now may be a good time to start speaking their language. Barring any international espionage or other illegal activities, I say let the kids have their fun. We did! Feedback? Comments? Just click on the link below.

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Leet Translation courtesy of Albinoblacksheep.com | Mutt Media NY

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© 2009 Mutt Media NY LLC All Rights Reserved

Mutt Media | The Daily Bone 5.6.09 | Teen Sexting

Click here for Katie Couric CBS piece on Sexting from YouTube

Last night’s episode of Law & Order SVU shed some light on a rapidly-growing occurance and one that I don’t think is going away anytime soon….teens and text messaging or as it has been coined, “Sexting”.

Sexting has received a lot of press in the last couple of months. I’m attaching here a short clip of Katie Couric covering it on CBS. Loosely defined, it is the transmission of nude or semi-nude photos using the text message or MMS feature on your cell phone or PDA. There are laws on the books that specifically prohibit the dissemination of pictures of this kind of children who are underage and authorities all over our country are using these Child Pornography laws to prosecute teenagers. The laws do not distinguish whether or not these photos are consentual in nature and currently, by the letter of these laws, teenagers can and will be prosecuted.

If convicted, they can be branded as Sex Offenders under Megan’s Law which would require these teens to register with local authorities. Information about their whereabouts can and is published for all of their community to see. This is a stigma that can follow them for the rest of their lives.

I think we can all agree that the laws in place haven’t caught up to technology. Poor judgment and decision-making are a natural part of growing up. Our children are in the (un?)fortunate position of acting as the “crash test dummies” in our new age of technology. Like it or not, they are paving the way for their children, who will, in all likelihood – be much more aware of their online image and more adept at controlling their personal information.

We are all learning that that our momentary lapses in judgment can often come back to bite us and we should really be guiding our children to guard their images carefully. No small task, to be sure. It’s a lesson in personal responsibility.

Here’s an interesting footnote  – two teens in Pennsylvania have turned the tables with the help of their parents. At a slumber party they took pictures of each other in their underwear. Pennsylvania District Attorney George Skumanic Jr. offererd them a deal to help them avoid prosecution. Before agreeing to this deal, they filed suit alleging that their civil rights were being violated.

Please share your thoughts – I welcome them. Just click on the link below where it says “Leave a Comment”or send me an email (which I may publish here – full disclosure!) feedback@muttmedia.net

This has been your Daily Bone
© 2009 Mutt Media NY LLC All Rights Reserved