IM Lingo Makes Monitoring Online Chat Hard For Parents

It's not a surprising statistic. 55 percent of kids from the ages of 12 to 17 are instant messaging. Instant Message, Instant DangerOnline Encounter Leads To Local Teen's Abduction

FBI's Parents' Guide To Internet Safety

IM Lingo Makes Monitoring Online Chat Hard For Parents

Instant Message Lingo Guide

Teen Behavior & Instant Messaging

How To Monitor Instant Messages

Cyber Safety Links

But even when parents put the computer in plain sight, it's hard to know what's being said. That's because of the lingo teenagers use while online.

And that could put your children in harms way.

If you ever peek over your kids shoulder while they're instant messaging, you may think they are speaking a different language.

In many ways, it is.

With screen names and abbreviations it's hard to know who or what they're talking about.

Remember the good old days when teens spent hours on the phone and eavesdropping parents could understand what was being said.

Kara Hartman, a teenager that uses instant messaging said, "At night I do it a lot. I can stay up for hours just talking."

Her mother carol Hartman is concerned. "I don't know who she is talking to."

Another concerned mother, Annette King, keeps her computer in the living room. Experts recommend keeping the computer in a high traffic area, but that didn't stop her daughter from having out of bounds IM sessions.

King said, "She had a conversation up and I looked at the conversation. I said to her, 'I wouldn't even say those things to your father.'"

Carol Hartman installed software on her computer that allowed her to monitor her daughter's instant messaging. And she got a surprise.

Carol said, "I couldn't believe that kids could talk to each other like this. These boys were talking to her in very obnoxious ways and very rudely."

Instant messaging has its own lingo, so even if parents read their children's IM's, they may not have a clue what their kids are really saying.

Some IM shorthand should make parents' antenna go up.

ASL means age, sex and location and it's often one of the first things predators ask.

If you see POS on the screen, it means "parent over shoulder," a signal to let someone know you're watching.

Other examples of IM lingo are:

B4N - bye for now GTG - got to go IDK - don't know TTYL - talk to you later

King said, "Having that anonymity, they say things they wouldn't say."

You can say whatever you want. They can't see the other person's face or anything," said Carol Hartman.

Kara Hartman said, "Your not face-to-face. You don't have to look at them in the eye."