Is he flirting?

I just read an article about how interpretation of text leads to bullying and aggression. With the use of technology thrown in the mix during these troublesome teenage years, more problems are bound to occur. There was a quote in the article that I had to laugh about.

A Florida Atlantic University Professor, Sameer Hinduja, commented, "Online, all you're left with is your interpretation of that text. Are they flirting? Is he cheating?"

I chuckled because it reminded me of when my husband and I were first talking. We had met in person through a very dear friend of mine, but it took me tracking him down online to really get anything started between us. I'll never forget one night while we were IM'ing each other. He made a comment that threw me for a loop. I didn't know how to take it. Before I could respond, he replied with a "j/K" (just kidding, for those that don't know the shorthand). I was a freshman in college at this point and spent the entire next day running around campus asking every guy that I knew if he was really kidding around or not.

Here I was a freshman in college, had recently graduated with honors from high school, and was on track to make the dean's list my first semester out in college. Even with what seemed like vast knowledge to me at the time, I couldn't decipher words true meaning without the body language and voice clues that face to face interactions provide.

This brings in more worry to me. Remembering that simple conversation and how I struggled with the "is he flirting" question that followed, how are kids in middle and high school expected to be able to know what agendas are behind the texts, posts, etc that bombard them each and every day? It makes me wonder if 13 is even an appropriate age for kids to be on social networking sites (I read in another article that approximately 13 percent of Facebook's registered users are UNDER the age of 13 as it is!). They are still developing their social skills and by putting a computer screen between them and their classmates doesn't seem healthy to me. Are we raising a society of maladjusted teenagers? Will they have the social skills necessary to survive in the real world or is our society doomed for a nation of computer dependent telecommuters as the technology continues to advance?

Do you know someone under 13 that uses Facebook or another social media?

http://www.theprovince.com/life/Cyberbullying+start+with+miscue+study+says/4912454/story.html

http://cyberbullying.us/blog/how-young-is-too-young-for-facebook.html