The risks of the Internet don't stop when the computer is turned off. With more and more devices available that connect to the Internet, there are ever increasing opportunities for kids and teens to be put at risk online. The challenge for parents is that the risk isn't always from a "stranger" on the other side.

A new word on the scene is "sexting", which is a combination of "texting" and "sex". It is similar to "cyber sex" through Instant Messages, where two parties are having a sexually charged conversation, but "sexting" is done via text messages through the cell phone. The conversations can even include sending sexually explicit images taken by the cell phone and sent to the other party.

Chat rooms are a popular way of communicating on the Internet, especially for young people. Chat rooms provide an opportunity for people all over the world to come together and chat on a variety of topics in real-time. Typically, these chat rooms are text-based and chatters are identified by user IDs or screen names (e.g., In2CheerForFun2), and they can "talk" to each other by simply typing in what they want to say. Whatever they type appears on the screen to everyone who is participating in the chat room.

There are chat experiences available for kids who have just learned to read and write to much older teens getting ready to graduate from high school. There are also chat rooms for adults. The different chat experiences offer different levels of user protection and are outlined here:

Predefined Chat
Chatters are limited to chatting with a predefined list of messages and responses.

Filtered Chat
Chatters can type their own messages and responses, but the messages are filtered through a list of pre-approved list of words and phrases. In this form of chat, phone numbers and other personal information such as proper names and addresses are blocked.

"IM speak," also called "Internet Slang" or "Netspeak," originally developed as a way for online chatters to convey ideas more quickly by replacing full words and phrases with various forms of shorthand, acronyms and abbreviations, thus cutting down on keystrokes. This "language" continues to evolve and is today used in a number of places -- especially by teens -- where electronic text is used to communicate, such as chatting via Instant Messaging or "texting" via mobile phones.

One common technique is to leave out vowels to shorten words. For example: sorry becomes sry. Here are some other commonly used terms below. This is not an exhaustive list, but these terms rank among the most common. Understanding the basic approaches to word shortening just may help you decipher new and emerging terms as you come across them. Otherwise, try online dictionaries such as the NoSlang Internet Slang Translator or the Internet Abbreviation Dictionary.

:-) : A smile

?: Indicates confusion or the person has a question when posted alone

!: Indicates excitement when posted alone

<3: (shape of a heart) love

2: too or to

4: for

8: ate

A/S/L: Age / Sex / Location \

B: be

BFF: best friends forever

BF: boyfriend

BRB: be right back

BTW: by the way

C: see

CYA: see ya

CYA L8R: see ya later

GF: girlfriend

G2G: got to go

JK: just kidding

LOL: Laughing Out Loud

NM: never mind or not much

OMG: Oh My God

OTW: On The Way

POS: Parents Over Shoulder (generally used in kids' chat rooms to indicate when parents are watching)

R: are

ROFL: Rolling On Floor Laughing

TXT: Text

U: you

UT: you are or your

Y: yes

Blogging, tagging, twittering, friending -- are you familiar with these terms, or like many people, does it sound more like a foreign language to you? Perhaps you've heard other people use them, but you just nod, smile and pretend to "get it" as words such as blogging and tagging just whiz by you. These are all examples of common verbs in Internet parlance that are working their way into every day conversations.

To bring you up to speed on the latest Internet lingo, spend a few minutes here to absorb a few of today's popular terms so that the next time someone (i.e. your own kid) informs you that he is going out to find a hot spot so he can update his blog, you will at least know how to translate it.

Blog: Short for web log, this is an online journal that a user typically updates regularly. The page you are looking at is a blog from AOL about family online safety. There are many personal and professional blogs on almost any topic you can imagine.

Cyberbully: A cyberbully is like the traditional playground bully, but the harassment of his/her victims' takes place online. Harassment can include teasing another person, posting rumors/lies about someone, or publishing unwanted pictures of the targeted person in public forums such as social networking profiles, message boards, chat rooms, etc.. It can include creating a negative profile to impersonate the victim, or e-mailing or instant messaging the victim using "anonymous" user names for the purpose of taunting or stalking the victim.

Facebook: Facebook is a popular and rapidly growing social networking site based on circles or networks. A person selects a network, such as a school or geographic location, and can then make friends with others in that network. Users attempting to join a school network must submit an email address from that school's domain being allowed to join that school's network. Facebook gained tremendous popularity among high schools and colleges, but is now widely used by adults as well.

Friending: "Friending" describes the act of making friends online through sites such as Bebo, MySpace and Facebook. It's easy to make friends on these social networks. You simply send a friend request to someone using the site and ask them to be your friend. Teens often have hundreds of these online friends whom they may or may not know personally. Read "Who Are My Child's Friends" for more information.