Communicate in off-to-college speak

Steffany Bane[Ed. note: This belongs to our series of posts featuring tips for recent grads from LinkedIn users. Steffany Bane works as a Copywriter at a Digital Advertising Agency. She is also Co-Author of the off-to-college book I’ll Miss you too]

Parents have been playing the catch-up game when it comes to technology. But these days, more parents are connected then ever before. The benefit of this is how busy a college Freshman’s academic schedule (ahem) social calendar is, and in a world of multi-tasking, they can always find time for an electronic message but may not be able to squeeze in a phone call. The benefit to this is #1 Students can edit their entry (ie. delete the curse words) #2 They don’t have to hear Mom’s lecturing voice. #3 If inspiration strikes at 2:00am, they won’t be waking anyone up.

This leads to the interesting factor of just how comfortable a teen can become in sharing details to the point where you’re left feeling sorry you ever asked about how the cafeteria food was or their roommate was doing.

A normal phone call might consist of answers like: “Good. Fine. OK. Bye.” An email, text or a tweet may give explicit details about how the cafeteria oatmeal tastes like the smell of Uncle Joe’s breath after a cigar or how their roommate’s battle with excess gas during the night is subconsciously affecting their dreams.

But do not fear. This is a good thing. If anything, it makes you realize you are not in control anymore. And this is the part where you let go. Trust that you’ve raised and instilled core values students will carry with them throughout college. After all, it’s part of growing up process, which both parents and students continue to experience the rest of their lives.