Parents Should Know What Teens Chat About Most in IMs

[ComputerDude]

When I was a teen I remember talking a lot about those subjects.

[dream member]

When I was a teen I remember talking a lot about those subjects.

But when I was a teen it became easier for us to communicate without parents even knowing...I still talk to some of the same people I talked to 5 years go online.

However, I was not normal; alcohol, sex, and drugs weren't concerns of mine (and still aren't...well 2/3 aren't :) ) as a teen.

No way to get rid of all the bad guys...just gotta pray to God your kids are making smart choices.

[dream member]

The scary part is that teens don't even have to have any contact with these crazy people...all they need to know is something like what school you go to and what you look like. There was a guy from a school who showed up at my softball game (we were playing his school). He didn't know too much about me...but there aren't THAT many softball players who looked like me on my team.

[Astra]

The article isn't very clear on just how this study was conducted. I'm thinking back to high school and the number of surveys my classmates filled out where they intentionally skewed their answers to be as disturbing as possible. Because of that, I'm extremely skeptical of any study like this.

Then again, to me, it shouldn't matter one bit what "American's teens" in general are talking about as long as you as a parent are aware of what yours are chatting about.

Also, there's a big difference between "talking about" and "doing." I doubt a survey or study is going to take into account inside jokes and teasing that might make a couple of good kids sound like delinquents to an outsider.

[aaron]

1 out of 10 is about how to get drugs? I don't think so. I have no doubt that there's a lot of drug use, but there's a lot of conversations that happen every night. 1 out of 100 maybe.