It probably comes as no shock to hear that 84 percent of parents with teenagers admit to receiving text messages from their children which they simply don’t understand.
Parenting on Female First
“I’m *vin” often leaves mums and dads nationwide completely “404”.
But a “starving” child no longer needs to leave their parents “clueless” thanks to a new smartphone App.
TextGenie, launched by developer DCML, deciphers the text language and slang from incoming SMS messages and translates them into plain English for confused parents.
Drawing on an existing catalogue of more than 1,500 terms and abbreviations, Text Genie even allows users to build up their own database of words and phrases often used by their children.
Ten popular text words and phrases…and translations
CT - can’t talk
ilbl8 - I’ll be late
mwah - I love you
wdymbt - what do you mean by that
cumin - coming
1dRfl - wonderful
2g2 - to go to
2nyt - tonight
koz - because
gr8 - great
According to the Pew Internet and American Life Project, 63 per cent of teenagers now send text messages every day compared with just 39 per cent actually using their phones to make calls.
“As a parent of a teenager myself, admittedly conversation is more grunts and monosyllabic at the best of times, but at least, TextGenie goes some way to helping in the area where the youngsters are more likely to communicate,” said DCML director, Nick Flaherty.
Research by DCML suggests that more than 7 out of 10 parents with children of both genders say their teenage daughters baffle them the most with their text messages.
David Cameron might also think about downloading Text Genie after Rebekah Brooks, the former News International boss, told the Leveson Inquiry that the Prime Minister thought LOL meant Lots of Love rather than Laugh Out Loud.
The new App, priced £0.89p, is available for download from Google Play today: play.google.com/store/