In RetroTech: NetLingo Blog

NetLingo 2025 Word of the Year: slop

2025-12-01T03:00:00.000-08:00

Hi AI, thanks a lot. You've made it extremely hard to separate the real from the fake! That's why the NetLingo 2025 Word of the Year is: slop. Slop actually sums up a lot this year...

From sloppy TACO tariffs (Trump Always Chickens Out) to the Bunnies On Trampoline meme, to the trillion dollar AI investment boom, AI is officially here and already out of control. Join me as I examine some sloppy trends and provide simple tips on how to steer your way through this muddy new landscape.

As defined by NetLingo, slop refers to unwanted artificial intelligence intruding in your activities, including the AI-generated results by search engines. Like spam, it also refers to annoying, low quality AI-generated content that you didn’t ask to see. Unfortunately there is a huge amount of AI-generated content on the internet that amounts to little more than slop.

Humans are creating a lot of the slop, but so is AI itself. Known as hallucinations, these can be just as dangerous as a meatspace experience. AI hallucinations are when an a language model or image generator, produces false, misleading, or nonsensical information that it presents as factual. There are many reasons why these errors occur but who cares! If the biased AI model lacks data or misinterprets prompts, you'll get incorrect facts, made-up citations, and distorted images such as:

When a lawyer uses AI to find legal precedents but it creates references to non-existent cases.
When an AI model provides incorrect financial data about a company.
When Google's Gemini AI generates historically inaccurate images.
When an AI chatbot advises you to put glue on pizza. All Slop.

Did you know an AI affair is now grounds for divorce? Courts are increasingly seeing clients cite emotional bonds with AI companions as reasons for marital strain, thus opening up a new legal frontier in family law. And AI is rapidly moving beyond chatbots...

OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, released Sora which could become a completely new platform for entertainment and socializing because it's quicker to post videos on Sora than it is to film and upload them to TikTok. Open AI said they designed Sora with social media fatigue in mind, and to make scrolling a more positive experience (but it’s hard to see any positive in this):

Sora marries the worst aspect of ChatGPT (it's ability to get users hooked on it) with the worst aspect of social media (the endless scrolling of mindless vertical videos). Handing Americans the ability to create perfectly realistic fake videos and a TikTok-like social network on which they can be shared is like taking heroin and mixing it with…more heroin. It's AI slop and it’s an apt description of Sora’s mucky, murky, reality-corroding pool of virality, said Scott Rosenberg in Axios. Already his Sora feed is full of Jesuses, SpongeBobs, dogs driving cars, and endless jokes about OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman. It may be hilarious for sixth graders but for the rest of us, it’s another step on the path to a new media world where verification vanishes, unreality dominates, everything blurs into everything else, and nothing carries any informational or emotional weight.

What is clear is that things cannot be taken at face value during this era of generative artificial intelligence. AI video apps alone are becoming so advanced you can barely distinguish the real from the fake. Here are a few TIPS to spot AI slop:

Consider the Likelihood - The easiest way to detect AI slop is to ask whether what you are seeing is even possible. So if it is not plausible in the real world, then it’s obviously AI-generated. For example, a horse on the moon or a chair made of avocado just isn't believable in the real world.
Listen for Garbled Speech - AI-generated speech has not mastered natural-sounding speaking cadence. In fact the voices and rhythms generated by AI slop make garbled sounds that come across as flat. Human beings would never produce that kind of garbled quality because we literally can’t!
Check the Metadata - Hah, my husband can't stand this word, but metadata is what it's all about. Metadata is information that is automatically attributed to content when it’s created. Every photo and video online has metadata no matter whether it was human or AI-created. This metadata includes the type of camera used to take a photo, the date and time a video was captured, the location, and the filename. So if you're suspicious, you can check it out. Plus many AI-generated videos will have content credentials that proudly denote its AI origins.
Check for Watermarks - One of the easiest ways to spot AI-generated videos is by watermarks. Videos made with Sora, OpenAI’s video generator, include a watermark at the bottom left. But some removal tools are nearly perfect if the video is very simple so look for a spongy block where the watermark may have been removed.
Consider the Source - Viral content gets spread from unknown accounts so if it's on social media or a meme page, it's time to sharpen your instincts and don't be gullible. Which means the "onus" is "on us" again to remain vigilant. Back in the day, savvy users knew DBEYR! In these unprecedented, AI-slop-filled times, you've got to stop automatically, unquestioningly believing everything you see online.

While other dictionaries have chosen their Words of the Year including parasocial, vibe coding, and 67, I think "slop" captures an experience for everyone (not just for celebrity seekers, programmers and kids). UPDATE as of December 15th: Merriam Webster chose "slop" as their word of the year too... but you saw it here first!

All this sloppiness makes it clear that it's up to you - the consumer - yet again to take extra measures to protect yourself. Even if it seems innocent enough, it's not. Slop is pervasive and makes it even harder for young people to stay grounded in reality and not sucked in. The only positive twist I can foresee is an explosion in creativity.

Ronald McDonald in a police chase, Jesus joking about “last supper vibes,” and Sam Altman getting arrested for shoplifting. That’s a small taste of what you may find on OpenAI’s new social app, where “everything is fake,” said Gerrit De Vynck and Drew Harwell in The Washington Post. Sora is the AI giant’s effort to challenge TikTok with an addictive platform on which “every second of audio and video is generated by artificial intelligence.” Users can insert themselves into “just about every scenario imaginable,” with frighteningly high realism and AI-generated audio. One AI filmmaker used Sora to create a satirical “TV commercial for a children’s play set that features a ‘hidden massage room,’ in reference to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.” Another slop who dominated our conversation this year.

My 2025 wish is for you to enjoy your 2026 online life without a side of slop!

- Erin Jansen, Social Psychologist, Internet Historian, Online Specialist, Founder of NetLingo.com

NetLingo featured on: The Ultimate Glossary of Digital Business Terms Every Entrepreneur Should Know!

2025-09-01T04:00:00.000-07:00

Learning digital business terms is like learning a new language. At first, it may feel strange, but once you understand these words, you’ll find it easier to make smart decisions for your business. Entrepreneurs who know these terms have a clear advantage—they can talk to investors, work with teams, and grow their online presence with confidence.

Introduction

Running a business today is very different from the way it used to be. Almost everything has moved online—shopping, marketing, communication, and even customer service. To succeed in this fast-changing world, every entrepreneur needs to understand digital business terms. These are the words and phrases you hear when people talk about online growth, technology, and modern business strategies.

If these words sound confusing right now, don’t worry. This glossary will explain them in simple, easy-to-understand language. By the end, you’ll be able to talk about digital business like a pro.

Section 1: Core Digital Business Foundations

1. Digital Transformation
This means using technology to improve the way a business works. For example, a store that once only sold products in person might now sell them online too.

2. E-commerce
This is simply “buying and selling on the internet.” Amazon, eBay, and Shopify are all examples of e-commerce in action.

3. SaaS (Software as a Service)
Instead of buying software once, SaaS lets you pay a small fee every month to use it. Think of apps like Zoom or Dropbox—you don’t own them, you subscribe.

4. Cloud Computing
This is when data and apps are stored on the internet instead of your computer. It means you can access your files from anywhere.

Section 2: Marketing & Growth Terms

5. SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
SEO is about helping your website show up higher on Google searches. The better your SEO, the easier people can find you online.

6. SEM (Search Engine Marketing)
This is paying for ads on Google or other search engines. It helps you appear in front of customers quickly.

7. Content Marketing
This means creating blogs, videos, or posts that give value to your audience. It’s less about selling and more about helping, which in turn builds trust.

8. PPC (Pay-Per-Click)
A type of online ad where you only pay if someone clicks on it. Google Ads works this way.

9. Conversion Rate
The percentage of visitors who actually do what you want—like buying a product or signing up for a newsletter.

10. Lead Generation
This means finding people who may be interested in your business. Collecting emails through a sign-up form is a common example.

Section 3: Data & Tech Terms

11. Big Data
This is a huge amount of information businesses collect to understand customer behavior. For example, Netflix uses big data to recommend shows.

12. Analytics
Analytics are tools that show how well your website, app, or campaign is performing. Google Analytics is a popular example.

13. AI (Artificial Intelligence)
AI means machines that can “think” and make decisions. Chatbots on websites are powered by AI.

14. Machine Learning
This is a type of AI that gets smarter over time. For example, email apps use it to learn which messages are spam.

15. Blockchain
A secure digital system that keeps records safe. It’s the technology behind cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.

Section 4: Business & Finance Terms in the Digital World

16. ROI (Return on Investment)
This measures how much profit you make compared to how much you spend.

17. KPIs (Key Performance Indicators)
These are goals that help you track success—like “number of new customers this month.”

18. Scalability
This means how well your business can grow without breaking. For example, an online store that can handle 100 or 10,000 orders smoothly is scalable.

19. Freemium Model
When a product is free at first, but you pay for extra features. Spotify and Canva work this way.

20. Subscription Economy
A business model where customers pay monthly or yearly. Netflix is a perfect example.

Section 5: Social Media & Customer Terms

21. Engagement Rate
This shows how much people interact with your posts—liking, sharing, or commenting.

22. Influencer Marketing
When a brand works with popular social media figures to promote products.

23. Customer Journey
The steps a person takes from first learning about your business to becoming a loyal customer.

24. CX (Customer Experience)
This is the overall feeling people have when they interact with your brand—good or bad.

25. Omnichannel
This means being available in many places at once, like having a store, website, app, and social media all connected.

Conclusion

Learning digital business terms is like learning a new language. At first, it may feel strange, but once you understand these words, you’ll find it easier to make smart decisions for your business. Entrepreneurs who know these terms have a clear advantage—they can talk to investors, work with teams, and grow their online presence with confidence.

Keep this glossary handy as a quick reference guide. The digital world is always changing, but the more you understand the language, the better prepared you’ll be to succeed. View the full post here!

NetLingo featured on The News US - Learn About Online Jargon: Decoding the Language of the Internet

2025-07-23T07:14:00.000-07:00

The internet is like its own universe—fast-paced, ever-evolving, and filled with words that can make even seasoned users scratch their heads. If you’ve ever felt lost reading a comment thread or confused by the alphabet soup of acronyms and slang, you’re not alone. To navigate the digital world confidently, it’s essential to learn about online jargon—the shorthand language that powers everything from casual texting to professional communication.

Let’s break down what online jargon is, why it matters, and explore some of the most common terms and phrases you’ll come across in different corners of the internet.

What Is Online Jargon?

Online jargon refers to specialized language, abbreviations, acronyms, memes, emojis, and slang used in digital communication. It’s a form of shorthand developed for speed, efficiency, and a bit of fun. Think of it as the internet’s dialect—it makes chatting quicker and more expressive, but it can be confusing if you’re not familiar with it.

From social media to gaming forums, messaging apps to workplace platforms like Slack or Microsoft Teams, online jargon pops up everywhere.

Why You Should Learn About Online Jargon

You don’t have to be fluent in internet lingo, but knowing the basics can help you:

Understand conversations on social media or messaging platforms
Participate more confidently in digital communities
Communicate efficiently at work or in online education settings
Stay updated with trends, memes, and internet culture
Avoid miscommunication, especially when acronyms mean different things in different contexts

In a digital world, not knowing what “ICYMI” or “TL;DR” means is kind of like traveling to a new country without knowing a few basic phrases.

Common Online Jargon and What It Means

Here’s a quick guide to help you crack the code. We’ve broken it down by category to make it easier to digest:

1. General Internet Acronyms

These are commonly used across emails, texts, and social media platforms:

LOL – Laugh Out Loud
BRB – Be Right Back
BTW – By The Way
OMG – Oh My God
IDK – I Don’t Know
FYI – For Your Information
IMO/IMHO – In My Opinion / In My Humble Opinion
ICYMI – In Case You Missed It
TL;DR – Too Long; Didn’t Read
NSFW – Not Safe For Work (content warning)

2. Social Media Slang

Some words and phrases are born from platforms like Instagram, TikTok, or Twitter (now X):

DM – Direct Message
FOMO – Fear of Missing Out
BFF – Best Friends Forever
Viral – Content that spreads rapidly
Thread – A series of linked posts or tweets
Clout – Influence or popularity online
Flex – Showing off
Ghosting – Suddenly cutting off communication with someone online

3. Business & Work Communication

Even in professional settings, online jargon creeps in. Common workplace abbreviations include:

OOO – Out of Office
ASAP – As Soon As Possible
ETA – Estimated Time of Arrival
EOD – End Of Day
Ping – To message or nudge someone
Bandwidth – Someone’s availability or capacity
Circle back – Follow up later on a topic
Sync – Schedule a quick meeting or discussion

4. Gaming and Streaming Terms

Gamers and streamers have their own vibrant vocabularies:

GG – Good Game
AFK – Away From Keyboard
Noob/Newbie – A beginner
OP – Overpowered
Nerf – To weaken or downgrade something
IRL – In Real Life
Twitch – A streaming platform for gamers and creators
Raid – A large group attack in games (or a streaming practice of sending viewers to another streamer)

5. Emojis and Memes

Yes, these count as jargon too! Emojis like “” (hot), “” (laughing to death), or “” (crying, but often used for dramatic effect) are used in place of words to convey tone and emotion.

Memes like “This is fine,” “Karen,” or “Let that sink in” also function as shared internet shorthand. Understanding their context can help you connect with online humor and culture.

How Online Jargon Evolves

Online jargon doesn’t stay still. New words are constantly created by younger users, content creators, and pop culture events. What’s popular today might be passé tomorrow. Just think of how quickly slang like “YOLO” or “bae” came and went.

Platforms like Urban Dictionary or Know Your Meme can help you stay current. Even Google is your best friend when you run into an unfamiliar term.

Tips to Learn and Use Online Jargon

If you want to ease into online lingo without getting overwhelmed, here are a few tips:

Start with the basics: Learn common acronyms first. Master the “LOL/BRB/ICYMI” set before diving into niche terms.
Observe before using: Watch how people use certain terms in context. Some words can have double meanings.
Don’t force it: Use what feels natural. You don’t need to pepper every sentence with acronyms to sound “in.”
Ask or search: Don’t be afraid to Google a term or ask someone what it means. We’ve all been there.
Stay updated: Follow internet culture pages, meme accounts, or digital communication blogs.

Online Jargon and Generational Gaps

Sometimes, misunderstandings happen between generations due to jargon. For example, a parent might think “LOL” means “lots of love,” while a teen uses it to mean “laugh out loud.” Or, older colleagues might find work acronyms like “OOO” or “ping me” puzzling.

That’s why it’s not just about learning jargon for fun—it’s also about bridging gaps in digital communication.

Final Thoughts

To learn about online jargon is to unlock a powerful key to modern communication. Whether you’re replying to a tweet, chatting in a Discord server, or just texting your friend, knowing the right lingo can save time, add personality to your messages, and help you better connect with others.

It’s a bit like learning a dialect. You don’t need to be fluent overnight, but understanding the basics can transform your experience online. So next time you come across an acronym or phrase that sounds alien, don’t scroll past—take a moment to learn it. The internet might feel like a foreign land, but once you learn the language, it starts to feel a lot more like home.

By nancy ahuja

NetLingo featured on TechPluto - Tech Talk Demystified: The Ultimate Guide to Online Terms

2025-06-27T07:53:00.000-07:00

The internet’s a wild, chaotic jungle, and if you don’t speak its language, you’re just a lost tourist getting eaten alive. From cryptic acronyms like LOL and NFT to buzzwords like “blockchain” and “metaverse,” the digital world’s vocabulary is a minefield that can make you feel like an outsider—or worse, irrelevant.

But here’s the deal: mastering this lingo isn’t optional; it’s survival. Whether you’re a startup founder, a social media junkie, or just someone trying to keep up with Gen Z on X, you need to know what the hell people are talking about. That’s where resources like NetLingo.com – The Internet Dictionary come in, and why this guide exists, and why this guide exists. It’s not just a dictionary—it’s your battle plan to decode the web, own the conversation, and stop looking like a clueless newbie.

This isn’t some dry academic glossary—it’s a no-BS, in-your-face crash course on the terms, slang, and acronyms that rule the internet in 2025. We’re diving into the history, the must-knows, the business buzzwords, and the cultural slang that define digital life. From tech entrepreneurs to casual scrollers, this is your ticket to fluency in the language of the web. Let’s rip into it and demystify the tech talk that’s shaping the future.

Table of Contents

Why Internet Lingo Matters

Let’s get real: the internet’s not just a tool—it’s the backbone of how we work, play, and fight in 2025. Every tweet, DM, or pitch deck is loaded with jargon that can either make you sound like a genius or a dinosaur. If you’re pitching a startup and don’t know what “SaaS” or “Web3” means, good luck getting funded. If you’re on X and can’t parse “FOMO” or “GM,” you’re missing the cultural pulse. Internet lingo isn’t just words—it’s power. It’s how you signal you’re in the know, build credibility, and avoid getting left behind.

The web’s language evolves faster than you can refresh your feed. Terms born in chatrooms, gaming lobbies, or boardrooms spread like wildfire, shaping how we communicate. Sites like NetLingo.com have been cataloging this chaos for years, and their mission—learn about online jargon, digital business terms, internet acronyms, and more—hits harder than ever. Knowing these terms isn’t about being cool; it’s about staying relevant in a world where attention is currency and confusion is a death sentence.

The Roots of Internet Jargon

Internet lingo didn’t just appear—it’s a messy mashup of tech, culture, and human laziness. Back in the ‘80s and ‘90s, early internet users on bulletin boards and IRC chats birthed acronyms like LOL (laughing out loud) and BRB (be right back) to save keystrokes. Programmers and hackers added terms like “bug” (a code flaw) and “ping” (checking a server’s response). By the 2000s, SMS and instant messaging exploded shorthand like TTYL (talk to you later) and OMG (oh my god). Social media—MySpace, then Twitter, now X—supercharged slang, turning phrases like “stan” (obsessive fan) and “clapback” (sharp comeback) into global lexicon.

Business jargon followed, with tech giants and startups coining terms like “disrupt” (upend an industry) and “pivot” (change strategy without admitting failure). Crypto and AI revolutions brought “blockchain” (decentralized ledger) and “LLM” (large language model). Every subculture—gamers, influencers, coders—adds its own flavor, making the internet’s vocabulary a living, breathing beast. You don’t just learn it; you wrestle it.

Must-Know Internet Acronyms

Acronyms are the internet’s shorthand, and if you don’t know them, you’re yelling “boomer” energy. Here’s a hit list of 2025 essentials, no fluff:

LOL: Laughing out loud. Still alive, still universal. Use it when something’s genuinely funny, not as a nervous tic.
FOMO: Fear of missing out. The anxiety driving half your X scrolling. “Missed the NFT drop? FOMO’s real.”
GM/GN: Good morning/good night. X’s daily ritual—post “GM” to vibe with the crypto crowd.
IMO/IMHO: In my opinion/in my humble opinion. Softens your hot take. “IMO, Web3’s overhyped.”
TL;DR: Too long; didn’t read. Summarize your rant or lose the crowd. Essential for long X threads.
NSFW: Not safe for work. Flags spicy or risky content. Don’t open that link at the office.
OG: Original gangster. Respect for pioneers—think Bitcoin OGs or Reddit’s early mods.
DM: Direct message. Sliding into someone’s inbox is the new email, but cooler.
IRL: In real life. Differentiates your online chaos from meatspace reality.
HODL: Hold on for dear life. Crypto slang for not selling your coins, no matter the dip.

These are your bread-and-butter. Miss them, and you’re lost. NetLingo.com’s got hundreds more, but start here to sound like you belong.

Digital Business Terms You Can’t Ignore

If you’re in tech, startups, or even just pretending to understand Silicon Valley, business jargon is your armor. These terms aren’t just buzzwords—they’re the language of power in 2025. Here’s what you need to know:

SaaS (Software as a Service): Apps you subscribe to, like Slack or Zoom. If your startup’s not SaaS, good luck raising cash.
Web3: The decentralized internet dream—blockchain-powered, no Big Tech overlords. Think crypto, NFTs, DAOs.
DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization): A group run by code and crypto votes, not bosses. Messy but revolutionary.
SEO (Search Engine Optimization): Gaming Google’s algorithm to rank higher. No SEO, no traffic, no business.
MVP (Minimum Viable Product): Your bare-bones product to test the market. Ship fast, fix later.
Unicorn: A startup worth $1 billion+. Rare, hyped, and usually bleeding cash.
Disrupt: Overthrowing old industries with tech. Uber disrupted taxis; you’re next (or not).
Scalability: Can your app handle 10 users or 10 million? If it crashes, you’re not scalable.
AI (Artificial Intelligence): Machines that think (sort of). Powers everything from chatbots to ad targeting.
Metaverse: Virtual worlds where you work, play, or waste time. Zuck’s still betting big, but the jury’s out.

These terms are your ticket to boardrooms and pitch decks. Don’t know ‘em? You’re not just out of the loop—you’re out of the game. NetLingo.com breaks these down, but you need to live them.

Social Media and Cultural Slang

The internet’s not just tech—it’s culture, and social media’s the engine. X, TikTok, and Discord are breeding grounds for slang that shapes how we vibe. Here’s the 2025 slang you need to nail:

Stan: Obsessive fan, from Eminem’s song. “I stan this new crypto project” = you’re all in.
Clapback: A sharp, witty comeback. When someone roasts you on X, hit ‘em with a clapback.
Flex: Showing off, usually wealth or status. “Just got a new Tesla, time to flex.”
Vibe Check: Testing someone’s energy. “This meeting’s failing the vibe check.”
Yeet: Throw or ditch with enthusiasm. “Yeeted my old phone for the new Honor Magic 5 Pro.”
Slay: Killing it, usually style or performance. “Her keynote? Absolute slay.”
Tea: Gossip or juicy info. “Spill the tea on that startup drama.”
Simp: Someone who’s too eager to please, often romantically. “Stop simping for that influencer.”
Bet: Agreement or confirmation. “Wanna grab coffee?” “Bet.”
Cap/No Cap: Lie/truth. “He’s rich? That’s cap.” “No cap, I saw the receipts.”

This is the pulse of the internet—miss it, and you’re culturally DOA. Platforms like X make these terms spread like wildfire, and NetLingo.com’s got the full rundown if you need to catch up.

How to Stay Fluent in Tech Talk

Internet lingo’s a moving target, and standing still means falling behind. Here’s how to stay sharp:

Follow X Creators: Crypto bros, tech founders, and influencers drop new terms daily. Follow them, but don’t drink the Kool-Aid blindly.
Dive into Subcultures: Gaming (Twitch), crypto (Discord), or startups (LinkedIn) have their own slang. Join the convo to learn.
Use Resources Like NetLingo.com: Their dictionary’s a goldmine for jargon, acronyms, and business terms. Bookmark it.
Engage Online: Comment, post, DM. Using terms in context cements them in your brain.
Stay Skeptical: Not every buzzword’s legit. “Quantum blockchain synergy”? Smells like BS—call it out.

Fluency isn’t about memorizing; it’s about living the language. The internet rewards those who adapt, so move fast or get left in the dial-up era.

Common Pitfalls to Avoid

Even pros screw up internet lingo. Don’t be that guy. Here’s what to dodge:

Overusing Acronyms: Spamming LOL or IMO makes you sound like a bot. Use them sparingly.
Misusing Terms: Calling everything “disruptive” or “Web3” without understanding dilutes your cred. Know the meaning.
Ignoring Context: “Stan” on X is cool; in a boardroom, it’s weird. Match the vibe.
Falling for Hype: Buzzwords like “metaverse” can be empty. Question their value.
Being Outdated: TTYL’s fading; “yeet” is now. Stay current or sound like a relic.

NetLingo.com’s a lifeline here—they track what’s hot and what’s not, so you don’t embarrass yourself.

The Future of Internet Lingo

Tech talk’s not static—it’s a beast that evolves with every X trend, AI breakthrough, or crypto crash. By 2030, expect AI to birth terms like “prompt engineering” (crafting AI inputs) or “sentience threshold” (when AI feels human). The metaverse, if it doesn’t flop, might spawn slang for virtual economies or avatars. Crypto’s already pushing “DeFi” (decentralized finance) and “rug pull” (scammy project exits). Gen Z and Alpha will keep slang like “skibidi” or “rizz” mutating, while businesses chase buzzwords like “hyperautomation” or “digital twin.”

The only constant? Change. Resources like NetLingo.com will keep cataloging the chaos, but it’s on you to stay ahead. The internet’s language is a living thing—learn it, wield it, or get drowned out.

Final Thoughts

So, what’s the deal with Tech Talk Demystified: The Ultimate Guide to Online Terms? It’s your crash course to stop sounding like a clueless newbie and start owning the internet’s language. From LOL to Web3, Stan to SaaS, these terms aren’t just words—they’re your passport to credibility, connection, and clout in 2025. NetLingo.com’s been preaching this gospel forever: “Learn about online jargon, digital business terms, internet acronyms, and more :-)” and they’re right. This isn’t optional—it’s do-or-die.

The internet’s a battlefield, and its language is your weapon. Master it, and you’re calling the shots. Fumble it, and you’re just noise. Grab this guide, hit up NetLingo.com, and start speaking the web’s language like a pro. Or keep guessing what “HODL” means while the world moves on. What’s it gonna be?

- ByPrashant Sharma

NETLINGO 2024 WORD OF THE YEAR: BRAT

2024-11-30T07:47:00.000-08:00

The year 2024 was quite the spectacle! From the Summer Olympics and Taylor Swift to the Solar Eclipse and the Ongoing Wars... still, one thing stood out for most Americans and many people around the world: the U.S. Election. Once President Biden stepped down and Kamala Harris stepped up, U.S. politics and TV ads dominated the media. No wonder a grrl needed a "brat summer" to tune out and party on.

That's why the NetLingo 2024 Word of the Year is: Brat. And like almost all online lingo, it can be spelled in all lowercase too: as in, brat.

Brat is GenZ slang for someone who says dumb things or has a breakdown of some kind, but still parties through it. Characterized by an independent, confident and hedonistic attitude, it reflects a cultural phenomenon among the young and online population and can refer to anything. It's meant to be humorous, like, "Isn't my new haircut brat?"

Coined by Charli XCX after the title of one of her albums, the British muscian declared on social media “kamala IS brat” after President Biden stepped away from the Democratic nomination in July 2024. GenZers began editing viral videos fusing brat songs with clips of Harris. The vice president’s campaign even adopted the album’s lime-green aesthetic on its social media pages during "brat summer."

All the fuss reflects a larger phenomenon and a growing trend too: the power of Entertainment. And in this day and age, You Tube and Amazon Prime are serving it up. In fact, the most searched term(s) on Google in 2024 was: "youtube" and/or "primevideo" depending on your sources! It makes sense. People continue to turn to entertainment sources to make us feel better: online media, social media, TV.

Yet all the media is not making us feel better. It's a known fact in this day and age that too much screen time is not good for people. Yet we're dominated by our phones -- even kids -- and it's all about what memes (pictures, videos, links, online content ) are going viral (think Hawk tuah girl). People are paying attention to online ideas, concepts, and phrases right now via the power of the Internet.

The expression "brat summer" was primarily used by women while having a "hot summer." We've all been overloaded with talk of the economy and Donald Trump and there's been a lot of harsh vibes, not to mention an ongoing dialouge about toxic masculinity, so I think it's time this female humor of honoring ourselves while still acting silly is the "bang for our buck" this year. Ever since the pandemic, people are still drinking in droves and bad language seems to show up online and IRL too. How about we make the 2025 New Year's Resolution:

All Good Things in Moderation.

Yes entertain yourselves however, whenever, wherever you want, yet don't over indulge so you have to party through and balance your life with other activities. All Good Things in Moderation for politics and media too: Yes let's hear about the world around us and live our authentic selves, yet meet in the middle to communicate and care for each other, so we continue to love and respect our global neighbors too. And All Good Things in Moderation for women and men: Forget the 4B movement, leave the male supremicist subculture behind... get outside and enjoy each other!

I wish everyone a Happy 2025 - to bratgrrlz and brogrammers, and to you, ...our 5.5 billion more!

- Erin Jansen, Social Psychologist, Internet Historian, Online Specialist, Founder of NetLingo.com

NETLINGO 2023 WORD OF THE YEAR: AI

2023-12-15T03:00:00.000-08:00

It's inevitable. Robots are going to take over. In addition to hardware bots, software algorithms have now infiltrated our online lives. Artificial intelligence is officially here. From regulation to religion, there's been a wave of AI updates this year, hence it is NetLingo's Word of the Year. Known as the simulation of human intelligence, it's time to learn about this brave new world.

AI has already spawned a host of new lingo including these tech terms:

ABCD - which stands for Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, Cloud, Data. From the Chinese government endorsing tech on farms in early 2019, promoting an ABCD of modern farming, this cocktail of artificial intelligence, blockchain, cloud computing, and data technology is on the rise.

AI - it used to just be a texting acronym that means "As If," now it's the buzzword for artificial intelligence.

AI/ML - this is short for artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), and it represents an evolution in computer science and data processing concerned with the development of algorithms that can generalize and perform tasks without explicit instructions.

Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) - this refers to software that exhibits human-like intelligence and when faced with an unfamiliar task, AGI will find a solution (or as the tech gurus say, it's "generally smarter than humans").

artificial intelligence - in addition to AI, it's also part of systems called machine intelligence and refers to computer hardware and software that emulates human intelligence, using reasoning and learning to solve problems. The concept of artificial intelligence was conceived in 1950 by Alan Turing, who used the term "computer intelligence." The concept was renamed "artificial intelligence" in 1955 by John McCarthy.

artificial life - also known as a-life -or- alife, this describes the modeling of complex, lifelike behaviors in computer programs. Artificial life forms can supposedly evolve and produce behaviors not contained within the rules set by the programmers.

chatbot - also known as chatterbot, smartbot, talkbot, bot, IM bot, interactive agent, conversational interface, Artificial Conversational Entity, and ChatGPT, this is only the beginning of the way in which everyday people will interact with this technology. It refers to a computer program or an artificial intelligence which conducts a micro, conversation-based experience via talk or text. It is designed to convincingly simulate how a human would behave, thereby "passing the Turing test" which is when a machine can exhibit intelligent behavior equal to, or indistinguishable from, that of a human.

GenAI - or Generative Artificial Intelligence, this is an advanced form of artificial intelligence using neural networks to identify the patterns and structures within existing data to generate new and original content.

sentient AI - And then there is sentient artificial intelligence, also known as sentient robot and sentient machine. Sentience is the capacity to feel, perceive or experience subjectively, so sentient AI refers to the capacity for artificial intelligence to have subjective perceptions, feelings and experience, including robots and machines.

In the AI tech world, there are two views: The doomsday "end of the world" scenarios and the accelerationists' "it's good for technology to evolve" camps. The doomers worry about AI’s potential to cause catastrophic harm, such as mass unemployment and the birth of an all-powerful Artificial General Intelligence that might snuff out humankind on a whim. The accelerationists, on the other hand, want to speed ahead with developing and commercializing generative AI systems before we even understand it.

One of the biggest threats is deepfake videos to create FUD. The dark web will utilize intelligence that's not even known yet where only institutions like the military are capable of tracking, hacking and informing our lawmakers. Government regulation is already happening in the European Union where they reached a deal to implement vast new regulations known as the AI Act. The regulations place new levels of scrutiny on companies using AI and include new transparency requirements for AI systems, protections against the spread of misinformation and the use of facial recognition software.

And then there are humans like Anthony Levandowski who pioneered the self-driving car and penned his Way of the Future. His idea fuses religion and the understanding of artificial intelligence, and raised eyebrows over its focus on worship and the acceptance of a future God developed through computer hardware and software. With AI now in the mainstream, Levandowski said it is time to consider how sophisticated AI systems could help guide humans on moral, ethical, or existential questions that are normally sought out in religions. Basically TEOTWAWKI.

The evolution of technology is fascinating, and my prediction is that AI will become so ubiquitous, there will be AI cable-type trucks driving around to fix your chatbots just like they do for TV. Yes, some of you will use AI on a regular basis moving forward, and yes many of you will like it. I personally have little interest in additional man-made screen time so I'll bid you a Happy New Year 2024 from the nature-made world on my island, cheers!

- Erin Jansen, Social Psychologist, Internet Historian, Online Specialist, Founder of NetLingo.com

NetLingo 2022 Word of the Year: Hybrid Work

2022-12-15T03:00:00.012-08:00

One of my favorite things about tracking internet terms for 30 years now (!) is seeing how the jargon morphs. There are so many words that are a combination of two or more things a.k.a. "hybrids" including the NetLingo Word of the Year for 2022... hybrid work.

Hybrid work refers to a flexible work model that supports a blend of in-office and work from home. Many employers offer employees the autonomy to choose if they want to WFH permanently or "do hybrid work" - split their time between their home office and “The Office.”

Working from home went mainstream when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in early 2020 and millions of office workers were confined to their homes. The pandemic didn't create the hybrid work model though, it accelerated the trend which began 2000s when the internet became reliable enough to use at home. By 2022, hybrid work transformed working arrangements and influenced more than just your father's office.

For example, real estate markets like Boise, ID and Flagstaff, AZ got flooded with white-collar workers from high-cost cities like San Francisco and Seattle, and while remote work was a financial game changer for most of the uprooted professionals, it didn't change local incomes so the real estate market in Boise and Flagstaff became "overvalued" by 76.9% and 65.6%.

Now, 68 percent of employees expect to work from home at least three days a week, according an HP survey of office workers in the U.S. and Canada. This digitization movement has also produced additional trends such as quiet quitting, the act of not taking your job too seriously so as to focus your time on life outside of the office.

The term hybrid was added to NetLingo.com in 1996 to refer to "hybrid search sites" HotBot and InfoSpace haha (I love me some business history and internet culture :) Over the decades "hybrid" morphed to also refer to hybrid site, hybrid cloud, hybrid model, hybrid company, hybrid reality, cyborg, digital analog hybrid, and hybrid shorthand.

And behind all that morphing is one of the original uses of the term hybrid, the HFC, (Hybrid Fiber Coax) which is responsible for delivering voice, Internet, cable TV and other digital services to your home and work - only one of the most important functions for everyone nowadays, and the defining factor that enables hybrid work.

Get this, the literal first use of the Latin term was in 1600 when the word hybrid came from hybrida, a variant of ibrida “mongrel,” meaning “offspring of a tame sow and a wild boar”, and was used to refer to the “offspring of plants or animals of a different variety or species”. It's funny but that kind of "weird offspring" derivative makes sense for all of the tech terms mentioned here in some way, (shape or form) lol! Even for hybrid work.

Pajama bottoms with Zoom tops is what our century's version of the mythical half human/half horse creature Centaur looks like. Such is our hybrid work/life in the 21st century. Happy New Year everyone!

- Erin Jansen, Social Psychologist, Internet Historian, Online Specialist, Founder of NetLingo.com

NetLingo 2021 Word of the Year: NFT

2021-12-18T03:00:00.003-08:00

People ask me all the time, WTF is an NFT? NFT stands for Non Fungible Token which is an individual, unique digital asset held on the blockchain to convey ownership of a property. Non-Fungible Tokens are easily exchangeable and include multiple digital formats.

An NFT property could be a digital asset, for example virtual real estate in an online community, a costume in a video game, an artistic image, digital content. The property could also be something in real life, for example actual real estate, an actual painting, a seat at a live concert, the first edition of a book. The property could also be a hybrid, such as who can rent a room in a cooperative working space or time share. The digital tokens, or certificates of ownership, live on the blockchain and can be bought and sold. NFTs are changing how we think about digital information, art, and ownership.

“Non fungible” means something is unique and can’t be replaced with something else (for example if I gave you a signed George Brett baseball card and you gave me a signed Rolling Stones poster, we wouldn’t have the same thing), whereas “fungible” is something you can trade for something else and have the exact same thing (such as money and bitcoins because if you gave me $20 and I gave you $20 we would have the same thing).

The "token" is the digital nature of the asset that lives on the blockchain. Think of blocks as individual transactions or records that are strung together on a single list called a chain or ledger. Blockchain can store anything digital, including signatures and intellectual property as well as cryptocurrency.

To "mint" an NFT means to generate it, for example: “It was a hard mint, meaning the token cannot be changed, as opposed to a soft mint, meaning the token is changeable.” Once created, then you sell it.

Cryptocurrency companies that enable NFT transactions are the payment platforms and the platforms that generate and maintain the NFT. NFT platforms include Rarible, OpenSea, SuperRare, Nifty Gateway, Foundation, VIV3, BakerySwap, Axie Marketplace and NFT ShowRoom. NFT payment platforms include MetaMask, Torus, Portis, WalletConnect, Coinbase, MyEtherWallet and Fortmatic.

The first-known NFT is considered to be Kevin McCoy’s 2014 image “Quantum” and the first projects began appearing on the Ethereum Blockchain in the ERC20 standard. The technology didn’t start hitting mainstream attention until in 2021 when people were buying and selling an estimated 85,787 NFTs —at a total value of $5.8 million— a day, according to DappRadar. On March 11, 2021, a blockchain-based digital artwork sold at Christie’s for a history-making $69 million, putting Beeple, its creator, among the top three most valuable living artists. If you fancy yourself an early adopter, it sounds like it's time to mint your own blonde babies, or at least check out some bored apes.

- Erin Jansen, Internet Specialist, Social Psychologist, Founder of NetLingo.com

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NetLingo 2020 Word of the Year: Zoom

2020-12-22T03:00:00.011-08:00

Zoom video conferencing software usage exploded in 2020, also known as the "year of the Covid-19 pandemic." It was many people's lifeline to work and friends because it combined video conferencing, online meetings, chat, and mobile collaboration and let people WFH. Like many pervasive Internet products, Zoom eventually became a verb, for example "Let's Zoom this afternoon so I can see exactly what you're talking about" and of course it spawned it's own jargon with the advent of Zoombombing, or disrupting video calls with violent, pornographic or offensive content.

There's clearly no competition for the NetLingo 2020 word of the year as Zoom surpassed 300 million daily Zoom meeting participants in 2020, a 50% increase from a month prior (200 million). For comparison, in December 2019, Zoom reported 10 million meeting participants.

- Erin Jansen, Internet Specialist, Social Psychologist, Founder of NetLingo.com

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NetLingo 2019 Word of the Year: woke

2019-12-21T03:00:00.006-08:00

It's always interesting to view history in retrospect. The year of 2019 brought about massive changes and in the minds of many people, you were considered either "woke" or not. If you're "woke" you know this word was having a major mainstream moment in 2018, but it wasn't until 2019 that woke penetrated politics, media, technology and entertainment. Also known as "left wokeness" because the ultra-liberal movement of people who live and die by politics started using it to describe a person's awareness of a particular topic, current affairs or social issues. According to them, the more woke one is, the more knowledgeable and empathetic one is about a person or issue. It was seen in social media posts and tweets characterized by snowflake behavior. But groupthink ran rampant and suddenly, everything was getting criticized.

The term comes from something suddenly springing to life, either out of alarm or determination, as in "You’re woke, so now things are, you know, real." It's also known as an alert to racial prejudice and discrimination that originated in African-American Vernacular English (AAVE). Apparently since the Blacks and the libs started to own it (again), American conservatives started using woke primarily as an insult. It's deemed the NetLingo word of the year this year because almost everyone is using it online.

- Erin Jansen, Internet Specialist, Social Psychologist, Founder of NetLingo.com

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About Time... Merriam-Webster adds "Brand-New" Words in 2019

2019-11-24T12:16:00.003-08:00

Brand new? I think not... I'm surprised the following terms were just added in 2019 to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary!

According to Molly Pennington, Merriam-Webster added over 600 new words to the dictionary in 2019, and as is always the case with language, there are old words with new meanings on their list too, check out the full list here.

Snowflake - On a molecular level, snowflakes are all basically the same, even though you may think they’re each unique and special. Snowflake also has a few definitions beyond, “a flake or crystal of snow.” The term has become disparaging slang for both someone treated as precious and special or one who thinks they should be treated as such. Yes, snowflake is a grand insult. If you are called this term, the user thinks you’re too sensitive or that you find yourself precious. It works the other way around, too—get a look at these 11 words and phrases that used to be insults but are now compliments.

Page view - Gotta get those clicks! A page view is a compound term of the Internet age. Page view is an example of “lexicalization,” because it’s a phrase that now expresses a concept: “an instance of a user viewing an individual page or website.” Page views are crucial because they insinuate engagement with info that’s on a web page or site.

Gig economy - The gig economy means that work comes from freelance, part-time, or contract jobs or gigs. While a gig economy offers lots of flexibility for workers, it does not provide the stability and assured growth that secure, full-time positions used to do. Coined in 2019, Merriam-Webster offers that the gig economy uses temps or freelancers, “primarily in the service sector.” However, over 70 percent of academic teaching positions are now part-time, temporary, or adjunct, and the gig economy affects many other sectors as well.

Swole - Do you work out? If so, you probably look swole. The term basically derives from swelling or swollen, but it’s a positive adjective used to describe top-notch or particularly aesthetic musculature. As in, Robert Pattinson as the new Batman is looking swole.

EGOT - Very few people have achieved peak EGOT—the ultimate threshold for performance accomplishment. Only 15 performers have reached it so far, and that list includes Audrey Hepburn, Rita Moreno, Whoopi Goldberg, and Mel Brooks. However, there are 40 performers on deck to become EGOT with just one more win. The term is an acronym using the first letters of the awards Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony. Once you win one of each, you’ve got an EGOT.

Stan - Stans have been around as long as celebrities, but this term for an obsessive and over-the-top groupie just made it into the dictionary. Way back in 2000, Eminem (of rap fame) had a song about an extremely devoted fan, “Stan.” And the term was born. Merriam-Webster notes that it’s often used in a “disparaging” way, but that’s usually in the form of self-awareness about a star or franchise’s epic greatness and the known insanity (instanity?!) of adoring it. Consider the way Game of Thrones stans still obsess over various dragon minutiae even though the series has ended.

And so on... these words have been in NetLingo for years! C'mon Merriam-Webster, time to subscribe to my NetLingo blog :)

- Erin Jansen, Internet Specialist, Social Psychologist, Founder of NetLingo.com

Big Box Stores = America's New Oligopoly

2019-10-15T06:00:00.000-07:00

And like most things that end in "opoly" it's the consumers, who pay the price. What is an oligopoly you ask? It refers to a state of limited competition, in which a market is shared by a small number of producers, and according to David Leonhardt in The New York Times, a new era of oligopoly might be costing you more than $5,000 a year.

In industry after industry, a few companies have grown so large that they have the power to keep prices high and wages low. The outsize growth of GAFA (Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon) is only one example. Most Americans also have a choice between only two internet providers or four major airlines, while Home Depot and Lowe’s have displaced local hardware stores and regional pharmacies have been swallowed by national giants. There's even a NetLingo word for it: big box store.

This isn’t some natural result of globalization and technological innovation, said Thomas Philippon, an economics professor at New York University. Europe has been far better at containing the growth of these few companies, because it has been implementing market-based ideas that Americans helped pioneer. The European Union created an impressively independent competition agency that’s willing to block mergers.

Meanwhile, U.S. regulators—pushed by lobbyists—keep finding ways to justify mergers with dubious theories about money-saving efficiencies. Broadband service in the U.S. now costs $67.69 per month, far more than in France ($31.14) or England ($39.58). The typical cellphone bill is $61.85 for 5GB of data, versus just $14.95 in France or $18.30 in Sweden. Meanwhile, capital investment stagnates. Meanwhile, the demise of the sole proprietorship was in part due to being Amazonned, yet a few years ago, Google opened it's first brick-and-mortar store in London. All this should inspire action, but clearly we have a long way to go.

- Erin Jansen, Internet Specialist, Social Psychologist, Founder of NetLingo.com

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Antitrust: DOJ review targets Big Tech

2019-09-10T12:08:00.001-07:00

Well they're finally asking the question: Does Big Tech abuse its power? The federal government has unleashed its full investigative powers on the world’s biggest tech firms, according to The New York Times. The Justice Department announced an antitrust review of the dominant players in tech—Google, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon - known collectively as GAFA.

The DOJ joins the Federal Trade Commission and Congress in examining how these tech firms accumulated market power and whether they acted to reduce competition. The agency has already begun meeting industry experts to learn the kinds of harm the companies have caused, the clearest sign yet that the longtime arguments that helped shield the tech giants from antitrust scrutiny are eroding.

The big question about the tech giants, according to Bloomberg, is whether these companies have used their success to cheat their way into more success. The answer is a resounding YES. Take Google for instance, with the development of their Answer boxes, they've funneled web traffic and ad revenue away from websites because now users can view the content directly on Google.

The giants will protest, as they always do, that they offer free services to consumers, and competition could make them die at any moment. They’ll wave the flag and say their success is a credit to the best of America. But the antitrust cops don’t care about these kinds of displays. Yes, Google, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon have built worthy businesses, but they still have a responsibility to play fair with their power and keep the competition fair for the good of consumers.

- Erin Jansen, Internet Specialist, Social Psychologist, Founder of NetLingo.com

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Our Language Is Evolving, 'Because Internet'

2019-08-01T08:23:00.002-07:00

What a fantastic book review, Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language, as seen on NPR.com! I am super impressed with linguist Gretchen McCulloch's insights and how they relate to all of the potential for miscommunication online - which is what I've been preaching as well. If you are one among us who has wondered whether a message in ALL CAPS meant it was urgent, or furious, or enthusiastic, then my website NetLingo.com and her book can help you!

Below is Gretchen's interview where she says the "new" rules, are "emergent..." so, for example, "The old rules are these top-down, 'here's how you use an apostrophe,' 'here's how you use a semicolon' type of thing." "The new rules are about: How are other people going to interpret your tone of voice? ... The old rules are about using language to demonstrate intellectual superiority, and the new rules are about using language to create connection between people."

Gretchen says a lot of the confusion stems from the fact that people read Internet writing differently, depending on when they first went online. Here are a few excellent examples, enjoy!

On the changing use of LOL

There's a difference between how these different groups use "LOL" ... the acronym which initially stood for "laughing out loud." And if you talk to people in some of these older generations who are, you know, have been using the Internet for 20 years but came online in a less social space, they see it: OK, here's an acronym; they're told it is an acronym; it must mean "laughing out loud." And so they still use it as actual laughter. Whereas when you talk to the youngest groups, LOL may have meant laughter for a very short period of time, but that laughter quickly became aspirational — you know, "Oh, that is kind of funny." And then it became not even real laughter at all. It became more a marker of irony or softening or "I'm not angry at you," "I'm not feeling hostile" — you know, these additional subtle social meanings.

And for the youngest group of people, there's no literal meaning left to LOL at all. ... It's a filler that specifically indicates that there's some sort of double meaning to be found. ... If I say something that could be interpreted as rude or hostile like, "Oh, I hate you" — if I say "I hate you LOL," now I'm joking, so it's fine. I'm not laughing out loud while I hate you, like in a malicious sort of way; I'm undermining my message and saying "I hate you LOL [but I'm not serious about it]." But in the inverse, if you say "I love you LOL," that doesn't soften the message any more. Now that means "Oh no, I fake-love you," like I'm being quite mean about that. So it's not always a softener — it just hints toward some sort of double meaning, which could be good or bad.

On the passive-aggressive period

The period is such an interesting new battleground for Internet language because there's definitely a traditional use which is still found in formal writing. You know, the book contains many periods, and they're not passive-aggressive because it's a formal context. But in an informal context, you don't need the period anymore to distinguish between one sentence or one phrase and the next because you're just going to hit "send" in a chat context. You can just send the message. ... And that makes your messages easier to read than this massive wall of text, particularly on a tiny screen.
And yet that means that the period is now open and available for taking on other sorts of meanings and other connotations. And one of those is that very sense of formality — and you know when you read a formal sentence ... and making your voice deeper at the end of the sentence, like you conventionally do with a period in formal writing, adds a note of solemnity or finality or seriousness to what you're saying. ... But the problem is if you say "OK, sounds good." — and you add that note of seriousness — now you've got positive words and serious punctuation, and the clash between them is what creates that sense of passive aggression.

On the construction "because [noun]," which gives the book its title (Because Internet)

One of the things I really love about Internet language these days is what I call stylistic verbal incoherence mirroring emotional incoherence. So when you're feeling upset or excited or angry or any of these extreme emotions or overwhelmed by how cute something is when you're feeling any of these extreme emotions you make your language get artfully disordered to express that. And so for the title of the book Because Internet, saying: OK, I'm going to truncate this. Instead of "because of the Internet," I'm going to make the shorter version "because Internet" — or "because homework" or "because weather" or any of these types of things, I'm going to make the shorter version because the answer is so self-evident that I can reduce it into this less coherent form. And you'll understand that I'm nodding at this bigger phenomenon that we can share.

On keysmash (i.e. "asdf;lkjasdlf" or similar to represent frustration)

For the youngest group of people, there's no literal meaning left to LOL at all. One new trend that I've seen that I really wish I had been able to spend more space on in the book is the continued evolution of keysmash. So, keysmash is when you mash your fingers against a keyboard to, you know, convey this incoherent emotion. And what I noted in Because Internet is that people have specific stylistic ways of keysmashing. He will write ASDF, etc. and they smash on the home row of keys. And I did a survey, and I asked people: Do you ever adjust or retype your keysmash if it doesn't quite look right to you? And most people said yes. Even though this is random, they still retype it because they want it to look like the right kind of social randomness.

But what I was just noticing as I was writing the book, and didn't quite have enough data to include, is that keysmashing has also been changing as we use mobile phones more. Because when you keysmash on a full mechanical keyboard you do have your fingers on the home row with ASDF and so on. But when you keysmash on a smartphone keyboard, you have your thumbs over like GHSDSK something like that so instead of going ASDF from left or right you might end up with like SKSKSK or GHGHGH, something going back and forth between your thumbs near the center of the keyboard. And so, the way we keysmash has been changing partly in response to the social pressure, partly in response to the devices we're using. And it's such an interesting example for me because it looks like we're just being monkeys typing randomly on a keyboard producing something totally incoherent, and yet there are social patterns to it. There are real linguistic trends to keysmash — even something that looks so random.

On how to avoid misunderstandings

We talk to each other. You can ask people what they mean. ... I mean, you don't have to talk to people by picking up the phone — you can talk to people by saying, "What did you mean by that?" or "Are you actually mad at me?" in the text message. ... Sometimes I say this is associated with older people, and people take that as a criticism. But I think it's just as incumbent on younger people to say: Maybe I shouldn't be overinterpreting hostility or passive-aggression ... maybe I should just be interpreting this with the context of "I know this person is older and so they're not actually being passive-aggressive at me." I think the increased understanding can go both ways.

It's OK to be a bit older. I've accepted I'm not a teenager anymore. ... It doesn't mean that just because this is what the kids are doing means we all have to talk like that. But having increased understanding across different generations can help people avoid miscommunications in their text messaging — which is really what I'm trying to do with Because Internet. Special thanks to Mallory Yu and Emily Kopp who produced and edited the broadcast version of this interview and Patrick Jarenwattananon and Beth Novey who adapted it for the Web.

- Erin Jansen, Internet Specialist, Social Psychologist, Founder of NetLingo.com

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Good for France for Approving Tax On Big Tech

2019-07-17T13:04:00.001-07:00

The recent headline "France Approves Tax On Big Tech, And U.S. Threatens To Retaliate" generated mixed emotions until I drilled down to really understand what's going on. It was recently announced that France will levy a 3% tax on digital companies that make large profits in the country, specifically the U.S. tech behemoths known in France as "Les GAFA" — Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple.

They're doing this because French officials have been frustrated that digital companies are able to avoid taxes by establishing their European headquarters in countries such as Ireland and the Netherlands, which offer corporations low tax rates, and France says it will roll back its tax if an EU levy takes effect. The European Commission calculates that digital businesses pay an effective tax rate of 9.5%, compared with 23.2% paid by traditional companies.

So the point is that France isn't exactly targeting the U.S., it's trying to establish norms in the EU. So if Arkansas and North Dakota want to give GAFA bigger tax breaks on "Federal" laws, (not just their state) it would be illegal in the U.S. States cannot exempt Federal, so what this means is that the EU is still working out their "Union" and this is one of the areas.

Apparently the United States is very concerned that the digital services tax unfairly targets American companies, according to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer. How is the U.S. threatening to retaliate? Last Wednesday, President Trump ordered a probe of the French tax. It's a sign that another trade war (like the one between the U.S. and China) could be stirring – except that it's with one of America's allies, and in this case, it's U.S. companies that are seen as the tax dodges. There's a NetLingo word for that Mr. POTUS: boil the ocean.

I think the EU has every right to do this and it's the OECD that is helping move the world to understanding the necessity of International Tax Laws. The U.S. or China or whomever, is making profits off of French citizens and should be taxed and vice versa... the question is, at what rate?

- Erin Jansen, Internet Specialist, Social Psychologist, Founder of NetLingo.com

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From Airplane Mode to Zombieing - The New Top 50 Online Dating Terms

2019-06-03T08:32:00.003-07:00

Lately I've received a huge influx of online dating jargon so I just had to compile this crazy new Top 50 List of Online Dating Terms! Back in the day, online dating was the largest segment of paid content on the Web (other than you guessed it, online porn). As Executive Editor of NetLingo, I knew the online dating jargon was proliferating but I had no idea how funny, yet super insensitive, it's become... check it out! How many of these things have happened to you?

1. airplane mode - when someone cuts themselves off from the world by not checking their smartphone or social media.

2. bae - An acronym that means Before Anyone Else... there’s also beob (babe) and baesbo (so back off).

3. baeless - One who is single, usually refers to a millennial.

4. banksying - It's when you're going to break-up with someone and decide to plan an elaborate act far in advance.

5. benching - Someone who is kept on the sides just in case it doesn't work out with the person you’re already dating.

6. bird boxed - From the Netflix movie, it’s when someone you’re dating treats you badly and you’re blind to it.

7. bonk - It used to mean to have sex or hook up in generation x lingo, but in generation y lingo it means you’re too tired!

8. breadcrumbing - Giving a person just enough attention so they’ll keep interest, but you don't have to invest in a relationship.

9. buzzerflies - The feeling you get when your phone buzzes, and it is potentially the special someone you want to hear from.

10. caking - When you’re extra sweet to someone you’re really interested in; flirting, either on the phone or in person.

11. career-zoned - When someone rejects you romantically but wants to connect professionally.

12. caspering - A variation of ghosting but doing it nicely by letting people down gently before you ghost them.

13. catfish - Slang for making romantic online overtures using a fake identity.

14. cohabidating - When two people are newly dating and move in together for financial reasons.

15. cushioning - It's when you're in a relationship with someone, but you still chat and flirt with other people on the side.

16. draculaing - It's when people only hear from the people they are dating at night.

17. DTR – It means Define The Relationship, that big awkward chat where people discuss "where things are going."

18. exaggerdate - A portmanteau to describe the act of embellishing a date so as to suggest it went way better than it did.

19. faux beau - A guy who acts like a boyfriend, but just as a ruse to continue his string of hookups.

20. feels - Millingo for feelings. Sample this, "OMG! I’m starting to have the feels for my umfriend."

21. force quit - In online dating it's slang for breaking up, as in "They force quit that relationship last week, about time.”

22. gaslighting - Slang for when an abuser manipulates in such a way as to make a victim question his or her sanity.

23. going down in the DMs - When two people begin flirting through direct messages on a social media platform.

24. grandeing - When a person is grateful for their past lovers and the things they taught them, inspired by Thank U, Next.

25. haunting - When they aren’t in your life anymore but linger on with their digital presence on your social media.

26. heart bargain - An intellectual who tries to reason their way into or out of an emotional decision.

27. HSAY - As in How Single Are You? Many will say they’re single but there is often someone texting them good morning...

28. instabait - Uploading Instagram stories to prod a FOMO-prone crush to get in touch.

29. instagator - Using Instagram to make a relationship public or to push it along further.

30. instagrandstanding – Posting photos and videos to your Instagram story tailored to appeal to a specific person.

31. iPhony - Online jargon that describes when someone constantly tells you they will text you but you never hear from them.

32. kittenfish - Less drastic than catfish, it’s when someone uses steps to make someone else like them better.

33. on ice - When you decide to pause the pace of a relationship and chill out for minute, you're putting it “on ice.”

34. on the team - A dating candidate squad, singles should have three in rotation until you decide to come off the market.

35. popsicle - It's when your instinct is to play it the opposite of cool, but you try too hard to play hard to get.

36. romanceting - It involves texting words or images, but instead of demanding sex, you express appreciation and admiration.

37. scrooging - When you break up with your girlfriend or boyfriend just before the holidays so you don’t have to buy a gift.

38. situationship - It's when you're not in a committed relationship but you can’t exactly say you’re single either.

39. slow fade - When you decide you don't want to continue dating someone, and you slowly start becoming less available.

40. snack - Slang for a very attractive person, usually a female.

41. Snap trap - If you’ve sent texts but bae doesn’t reply, you then Snapchat them and if your SO opens it, they’re trapped.

42. SO stalemate - In a relationship, it's when neither party will start the DTR (define-the-relationship) conversation.

43. social squatter - Someone who breaks up with you but wants to keep seeing your friends platonically (!)

44. soul-mining - When someone tries to cram three months of emotional intimacy into your first three hours together.

45. stashing - Stashing means to date someone, while not telling anyone about them. It's like having a guilty secret.

46. textual chemistry - When your text connection is hot off-the-charts but in person, your chemistry barely registers.

47. three-dot disappearing act - ...The act of starting to type a text message on your smartphone and then stopping...

48. throning - When a person dates someone to elevate his or her own social status, wealth or reputation.

49. you-turn - Slang for someone who goes from one extreme relationship to the next in the blink of an eye.

50. zombieing - Similar to ghosting, but the dater reappears in your life and acts as nothing happened after a period of time.

- Erin Jansen, Internet Specialist, Social Psychologist, Founder of NetLingo.com

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Big Tech: It's Time to Break Up Facebook

2019-05-31T05:43:00.003-07:00

Every now and then an article in The Week comes along that feeds my passion for Internet history and ultimately shakes me to the core. And as always, the articles in The Week include a lively debate from all viewpoints. This time they're reporting about the co-founder of Facebook saying it's time to break it up and I must say, I agree. But even better, it's time to simply walk away.

“It’s time to break up Facebook,” said Chris Hughes in The New York Times. “It’s been 15 years since I co-founded Facebook at Harvard” with Mark Zuckerberg, and a decade since I left the company. In that time, Mark’s power has become “unprecedented and un-American” and his company a “leviathan that crowds out entrepreneurship and restricts consumer choice.” Sen. Elizabeth Warren has advocated for policies that would bust up Big Tech, and I’m joining the growing chorus calling for the government to step in. Mark’s “focus on growth led him to sacrifice security and civility for clicks.” Most worrisome is the control he exerts over the algorithms that determine what gets displayed on the news feed: “There is no precedent for his ability to monitor, organize, and even censor the conversations of 2 billion people.” The government needs to unwind the mergers of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp before they become too intertwined.

Rooting for Facebook is like rooting for the New England Patriots, said Shira Ovide in Bloomberg.com. “But I worry that ‘Break up Facebook’ has become a catchall.” We need to better understand the root problems and prescribe appropriate fixes “before we all back a Standard Oil–style dismantlement” of the tech giants. The argument that Facebook, for instance, can squash all rivals doesn’t really hold true: Facebook missed the popularity of Snapchat and TikTok, while Apple and Google “remain the front doors to smartphones.” Breaking up Facebook would just create “fiercer wars for our attention and data,” said Ezra Klein in Vox.com. The problem is not that “Facebook is blocking competition in its sector.” It’s that the social networks compete to capture our attention and data with addictive algorithms and toxic content. (Right! There's a NetLingo word for that: brain hacking.) Breaking up Facebook doesn’t solve the real issue: The “incentives that shaped Facebook—and Instagram, and Twitter, and Snapchat, and YouTube—lead to dangerous products.”

Sure, everyone is disappointed with Facebook, said Nick Gillespie in Reason.com. That’s how things go with new technologies. First, the utopian stage, “when we’re all jazzed up about the possibilities of a new innovation.” Next, the dystopian period, “when we attribute all our ills to the new thing—TV, or the web, or social media.” Last comes the stage “when we put the technology in its proper place.” With social media, “we’re clearly in the second phase and almost certainly heading to the third.” We’re all growing tired of how much these sites demand our attention. But the idea that government will do a better job of fixing what’s wrong with them is “risible.” Many of Facebook’s users have already found a way to battle all-powerful Zuckerberg and his “unstoppable” Death Star: They’re “simply walking away.”

- Erin Jansen, Internet Specialist, Social Psychologist, Founder of NetLingo.com

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YouTube's Porn & Conspiracy Problems: Fix Your Recommendation Engine

2019-04-30T06:30:00.000-07:00

YouTube was under fire again in early March, when a video blogger named Matt Watson detailed how pedophiles can enter a “wormhole” of YouTube videos to see “footage of children in sexually suggestive positions” according to CNET.com. They can then jump from video to video, helped by YouTube’s recommendation engine, and fill them with lewd comments. Oh yeah, there's an old NetLingo word for that: flame bait.

In response, brands such as Disney, AT&T, and Epic Games pulled their ads from YouTube, and the company responded by banning more than 400 accounts. Unfortunately, it’s not the first time that Google-owned YouTube has had this kind of child-safety flare-up. In 2017 alone, disturbing knockoffs appeared on the YouTube Kids platform that depicted Disney and Marvel characters in troubling ways; then sexually explicit comments appeared under videos of kids’ gymnastics. “In response to those scandals, CEO Susan Wojcicki overhauled YouTube’s safety guidelines.” Yet two years later, the same problems keep cropping up.

It’s not just the comments that are problematic for YouTube, said The New York Times. The platform has been reckoning with the vast troves of disinformation and extreme content it harbors, such as conspiracy videos and hoaxes that are popular with millions of viewers. Here, again, the recommendation engine is part of the problem: It sends viewers of misinformation to similar videos with more misinformation.

Conspiracy theories and viral hoaxes top the list” of recommendations for viewers of many popular channels. Young people repeatedly battered by these recommendations often start to reject mainstream sources. To fix this, YouTube needs to recognize how deep these problems run and realize that any successful effort may look less like a simple algorithm tweak, and more like deprogramming a generation.

- Erin Jansen, Internet Specialist, Social Psychologist, Founder of NetLingo.com

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Big Tech Scruples: Why Did Facebook Executives have to be so Ruthless?

2019-04-16T06:30:00.000-07:00

Facebook has weathered its share of scandals lately but this item didn't get much coverage and it really got my goat. At the end of 2018, some 250 pages of internal Facebook emails were released by British lawmakers revealing that executives were "ruthless and unsparing" in their ambition to collect more data from users according to The New York Times. The emails, which spanned 2012 to 2015, a time of tremendous expansion for Facebook, show executives including Mark Zuckerberg, discussing ways to undermine their competitors, obscure their collection of user data, and above all, ensure that their products kept growing.

Most of that sounds well and good (not the obscuring of data part) as our current definition of what a business should do, there's even a NetLingo word for it: moneytizing eyeballs.

Until you get to the part that Facebook engineered a way to collect Android users' data without having to alert them, and Zuckerberg personally approved cutting off a video-sharing app's access to Facebook because it was a competitor to Instagram (which they own). The app, called Vine and loved by many, was eventually forced to shut down. C'mon executives of Big Tech, speak out! Especially you spiritual ones... there's more than enough to go around.

- Erin Jansen, Internet Specialist, Social Psychologist, Founder of NetLingo.com

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Hey Amazon :( If Coastal Elite Turn On You, Go Where You're Needed

2019-04-02T06:30:00.000-07:00

Amazon walked away from New York City due to the public outcry over the $2 billion tax incentives. Amazon, with the rest of Big Tech, is facing unprecedented scrutiny from the newly emboldened Left, according to Axios.com. Progressive Democrats have hammered Amazon over its market power and treatment of warehouse and delivery workers.

In fact, the company has become a potent symbol of American inequality but they are moving fast to head off attacks, and sometimes by co-opting the liberal agenda, like by raising its minimum wage to $15 an hour.

But Amazon is popular in Virginia and that doesn't surprise the people in Roanoke, VA according to the Times. Polling shows that more than 90 percent of people in southern Virginia support the company. Why? For the idea of the jobs! Guess what, the red states lost a lot of work due to Big Tech. There's even a NetLingo word for it: You've been Amazonned.

Southern Virginians get why Amazon didn’t locate there: They don’t have 25,000 highly skilled people ready to go to work immediately, but they do have 75,000 college students they'd rather not watch leave. So, Amazon if the coastal elite think you and the other Big Tech companies are wrecking their cities, set up shop in places that will benefit America! I agree with their sentiment, it's tiring to watch politicians in New York City and Seattle gripe about tech companies overrunning their cities, it's like watching two rich people argue.

- Erin Jansen, Internet Specialist, Social Psychologist, Founder of NetLingo.com

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Working at Google is Not The Dream It’s Supposed To Be

2019-03-26T06:30:00.000-07:00

Google has a two-tier workforce, with half of the 170,000 people who work for Google classified as temporary or contract workers, and permanent employees are instructed to treat them differently in a variety of ways. According The Guardian, there's a written company guide that says Google staff are not to reward certain workers with perks like T-shirts, invite them to all-hands meetings, or allow them to engage in professional development training. Ugh! I experienced that same bullying at ADT which was shocking. There's a NetLingo word for it: NQOCD.

The contract workers also don’t get benefits at Google, they can’t list on LinkedIn that they work for Google, and they are still subject to forced arbitration for sexual harassment claims, a policy that changed for full-time workers after a global walkout by Google employees (see below!). According to one employee, Google’s contract worker policy basically amounts to this: We are legally in the clear to treat people like garbage. Coming from one of the most successful companies in history, it only makes Google look like garbage.

As for their employees, Google has also been quietly urging the U.S. government to overturn an Obama-era protection that lets employees use their work email to organize online, according to Bloomberg.com. Google made an argument to the National Labor Relations Board last November, three weeks after 20,000 of its employees walked out to protest the company’s handling of sexual harassment cases. The filing was revealed last week through a Freedom of Information Act request. Busted.

Because Google’s workers are spread around the globe and don’t have most co-workers’ personal emails, its employee email system played a pivotal role in the organizing for that protest. Google’s push to remove the protection was considered surprising because the company publicly expressed support for the goals of the protest. Busted again. This is yet another instance of Big Tech saying one thing and doing something else, when what they need to do is be more transparent... but not to the degree as Netflix (see previous blog)!

- Erin Jansen, Internet Specialist, Social Psychologist, Founder of NetLingo.com

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Still Like Netflix Knowing Their Employees Work in Constant Fear?

2019-03-19T05:00:00.000-07:00

Who wants to work at a place where the culture can be ruthless and demoralizing? How about brutal honesty, ritual humiliation, insider lingo, and constant fear? Sure you always dream about how cool it would be to work at Netflix for example, but the reality of working in Big Tech and many other corporations these days is very different.

You don't care you say, you want the salary, the prestige, the experience. Well apparently ruthless and demoralizing and working in constant fear is the Netflix way. What gives? According to The Wall Street Journal at Netflix, they count "radical candor and transparency" among their highest corporate values. OK... So that means when almost every employee can access sensitive information such as viewer numbers for Netflix’s shows, and when 500+ executives can see the salaries of every staffer, they want to demand the same transparency to evaluating performance? The problem with that is you don't treat humans the way you treat data.

Netflix actually encourages team dinners where everyone goes around and gives feedback and criticism about others at the table, and managers are encouraged to apply a "keeper test" to their staff... asking themselves whether they would fight to keep a given employee and firing those for whom the answer is no. In fact, Netflix infamous CEO Reed Hastings uses the keeper test himself, and last year fired one of the company’s first employees, a close friend for decades. One former Netflixer says she saw a fired colleague crying as she packed her boxes while other employees looked away, fearing that helping her would put a target on their back.

It's kill or be killed according to Gizmodo.com. This is the kind of the place where the Chief Human Resources Officer created a 120-slide PowerPoint deck back in 2004 explaining Netflix’s culture of “freedom and responsibility.” She pushed them to keep only highly effective people and devised the keeper test. You can guess how the story ends: Hastings used the keeper test on her in 2011 and fired her. Don't worry, there's a NetLingo word for what she'll do next: ladder bypass.

For those of us who have endured this kind of corporate hell, it's disheartening to see that Big Tech and other corporations still don't care about bullying people to get rid of dead weight. What's even more challenging is that many employees join companies like this with their eyes open and they don't care either! Otherwise Netflix wouldn't have an 87 percent approval rating on Glassdoor. Netflix also took the No. 1 spot on a survey in which knowledge workers were asked which company they most wanted to join.

C'mon gang, we'll never get rid of this corporate culture of fear until people stop accepting it. The answer lies with you, with us... not with Reed Hastings and his cronies who are clearly acting out of fear themselves. Don't "want to work" there just because you spend so much of your valuable free time consuming their product. Better yet, boycott the product... they may not care in their hearts but they will when they feel it in their wallets. Our workplace environment should at least maintain common decency empower professionals to be their best possible versions.

- Erin Jansen, Internet Specialist, Social Psychologist, Founder of NetLingo.com

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Knowledge Workers: It's Time to Embrace Working Remotely

2019-03-03T07:42:00.001-08:00

Employees actually hate open offices, everyone knows that. But's it now been scientifically proven that open offices are doing the opposite of what they were intended and causing us more stress. An article in Fast Company points out that they are too symbolically powerful for companies to abandon. What? It’s not just that open offices are cheap—though they are. OK. Open offices signal that people are collaborating and ideas will spark. Not true!

Open offices have become popular at startups and established companies alike, and Facebook even put all 2,800 employees in one 10-acre building! Ugh. The article goes on to point out that these layouts actually lower the percentage of in-person interactions by 70 percent, while emailing and other electronic messaging rises by 50 percent.

Open offices have also been shown to create stress, especially for women who fell like they are on display all of the time. Check that. While sixty-five percent of creative people have said we need quiet or absolute silence to do our best work. Sure enough, open offices changed everything and there's a NetLingo word for it: disruptive technology.

Even CBS News said yep, the latest research shows that most open office plans fail, and that we didn’t need science to prove how much open offices suck the life out of our workday. I can't believe that seventy percent of Americans now work in open offices! That's a lot of people when, they need to have a real conversation or pitch an important client, they have to find a storage closet.

According to the Financial Times, at the trending WeWork co-working offices, the shared desks seem fairly empty, while the private meeting rooms were full. The ultimate sign that the open office is due for some serious rethinking? Companies are now spending $3,500 for portable soundproof pods to let their employees get away from their colleagues and actually do their work. Gang, if you need to get out from under the fluorescent light, check out job sites like Remote.com.

Dear corporations and businesses alike, the time has come. If you have a productive employee who is capable of performing his or her job offsite, and is equipped with all the office technology and collaboration software as needed, and expresses an interest and desire to do so, then c'mon Big Tech, allow your employees the opportunity to work from home, work remotely, work virtually, telecommute... whatever you want to call it. If not, at least bring back the cube farms.

- Erin Jansen, Internet Specialist, Social Psychologist, Founder of NetLingo.com

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Why the Gig Economy can be an Online Hell for Workers

2019-02-06T07:55:00.003-08:00

Karl Marx would not be surprised by the gig economy, said Leonid Bershidsky in Bloomberg.com. Marx’s proletariat was made up of laborers who were “increasingly impoverished by the rise of machines.” Well guess what? That describes the workers on “digital labor platforms” such as Amazon’s Mechanical Turk perfectly.

The “click-worker” jobs on these platforms can include “filling out questionnaires for academic researchers, transcribing audio, even moderating content for social networks.” These jobs are demanding and require education, yet the people who do them earn an average of only $4.43 an hour, according to a survey of 3,500 workers from 75 countries. That number falls to $3.31 an hour when you factor in unpaid time spent looking for orders, researching clients, and taking qualification tests.

It’s not just workers in poor countries who are paid these wages. Two-thirds of U.S. “Turkers” made less than the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. These are “hellish” jobs without even “basic worker protections.” Should a modern society tolerate jobs that come with no worker rights and no possibility of dignified survival? “And even if such jobs are allowed, should they be offered by huge tech companies that provide outsize returns to shareholders?” Shouldn’t gig workers get to live in a world that feels like 2018, not Marx’s 1848?

- Erin Jansen, Internet Specialist, Social Psychologist, Founder of NetLingo.com

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Congress Doesn't Get Big Tech and Senators Don’t Use E-mail. This Bothers Me.

2019-01-21T10:10:00.002-08:00

From Senator Chuck Schumer to Senator Lindsey Graham, many of our elected officials continue to brag about not using email. That's concerning. Even more startling is the fact that Congress doesn't get Big Tech. The Facebook hearing last year made it clear that very few U.S. Senators understand Facebook's business. Most of the questions came from tech-challenged Senators who seemed clueless about how Facebook makes its money and even how the Internet works.

"If a version of Facebook will always be free, how do you sustain a business model in which users don't pay for your service?" Senator Orrin Hatch, the 84-year-old Republican from Utah (who also famously doesn't use email), asked early on in the five-hour hearing. Mark Zuckerberg paused a moment before saying, "Senator, we run ads." He, and his staff sitting behind him, then grinned directly at him. There's a NetLingo word for that Senator Hatch: noob.

Watch this and tell me Congress, do you really want to be laughed at by Big Tech?

Meanwhile Trump is begging Big Tech for free labor to avoid federal hirings, and because of the government shutdown, 45% of employees in the Department of Homeland Security’s newly created Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency have been furloughed, in addition to 85% of workers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

This all bothers me so I try to reach out and voice my concern but apparently you need to call, and not email, your legislators. I'm told even if you don’t speak directly to the lawmaker, staff members will often pass the message along in one form or another. Really? With a can and a line of string?

Congress, you cannot afford to be stuck in 1995. As Catherine Rampell from the Washington Post reminds us, the digital revolution is now decades old, affecting virtually every industry and public policy. Senators help make federal laws regulating technology, privacy, cybersecurity, and the digital economy, and for you, ignoring how everyone else in the nation communicates is a form of political malpractice. If you know little or nothing about technology in a technological age, you shouldn't be in the Senate, but if you are, then please hire a consultant like me.

- Erin Jansen, Internet Specialist, Social Psychologist, Founder of NetLingo.com

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