Time to Brush Up on Your Internet Lingo?

Just like any foreign language, Internet Lingo is something you need to read and write every day to keep your fluency up and so you know what your kids are really saying when they are communicating online. A good place to brush up your online speak is the Parents - the Anti-Drug site's Internet Lingo list. While you are there take their Tech Savvy quiz and their Crash course on social networking, cell phones and IMing.

What Would You Give Up Email For?

On this blog we often point out to you articles of interest from recent surveys related to digital lifestyles, but this one seems to take the cake. Or, at least for now in digital history. Questions is a recent poll by IncrediMail about how important email is revealed that 73.8% of those polled say email is essential to their life. When asked what they would rather give up for a day instead of losing email, 54.4% said they would rather forgo chocolate, while 50.2% said they would give up coffee, and 41.4% would pass on television. Another 38.4% would skip using their cell phone for a day. Surprised? Don't be. The survey also showed that 14.9% of the 100,000 people polled would rather live without their spouse or significant other than go without email, and 6% said they would rather lose their home. (Remember, these are adults, not teens!)

The people polled also revealed that they are spending lots of time every day involved in reading and sending email. Of those polled, 59.8% said they spend more time working with email than they do on the phone, while 51% said they spend more time with email than they do working out. Maybe most surprisingly, 12% said they spend less time sleeping than they do with email.

Relationships also seem to be integrally related to email. Nearly 50% of respondents said they have used an email in a prank or to joke with a friend or colleague. Another 19% have started or advanced a romantic relationship via email, while 7% have ended a relationship the same way. Similarly, 3.7% of respondents have ended a business relationship by firing someone through email.

So tonight at the dinner table or driving your kids to their next destination or whenever you paths should cross, ask them what they would give up a day (or more) to be able to email or IM.