resources
Digital Dictionary
Terms and definitions related to technology, adolescence, and human sexuality.
Adolescence
refers to the dynamic period of growth a youth undergoes in relation to physical, cognitive, and psychosocial maturation. Although most individuals associate the period between the ages of 12 and 18 as being the time of adolescence, recent scientific advances have expanded our understanding of human development and it is now recognized that most brain development does not cease until one’s mid-20s. Additionally, there is research to suggest that the age of onset for adolescence, or the period where one enters puberty, is declining, resulting in younger and younger people undergoing adolescence change.
The physical changes of adolescence include the development of secondary sexual characteristics, such as pubic hair growth, budding breasts, greater muscle composition, and menarche. In addition to these physical changes, adolescents also experience growth in the realm of psychosocial maturation. This includes greater impulsivity (“acting before thinking”), increased peer influence, increased risk-taking, and limited perspective taking.
Anime
A style of illustrated and animated Japanese films and television animation, typically aimed at adults as well as children, often includes violence and mature themes.
Applications
also known as “apps,” are computer programs. The abbreviation “app” became popular with the advent of downloadable games and programs. One purchases or downloads such programs from an app store.
Airdrop
An airdrop is a distribution of a cryptocurrency token or coin, usually for free, to numerous wallet addresses. Airdrops are primarily implemented as a way of gaining attention and new followers, resulting in a larger user-base and a wider disbursement of coins.
Bondage Domination
Also known as BDSM, bondage domination is a continuum of consensual sexual practices that includes bondage and discipline, dominance and submission, and sadism and masochism.
Broadband Internet
Broadband refers to the high-speed Internet that has become increasingly popular and is considerably faster than its predecessor, dial-up access.
Catfishing
Catfishing involves luring someone into a relationship via the use of a fake online persona. This modern term became popularized as a result of a documentary and television show of the same name. One high-profile incident involving “catfishing,” involved Notre Dame alumnus and professional football player Manti Te’o.
Cloud
Cloud storage involves the storage of data on remote servers accessed from the Internet. Dropbox, Mega, Apple Icloud, Google Drive, and Box are well-known remote servers, or cloud providers. Data can be automatically synced and backed up on the cloud.
Commonsense Media
Common Sense Media rates movies, TV shows, books, and more so parents can make better informed decisions about the entertainment choices they make for their kids. The provide parenting advice and support families as they navigate the challenges and possibilities of raising kids in the digital age.
Cyberstalking
Common Sense Media rates movies, TV shows, books, and more so parents can make better informed decisions about the entertainment choices they make for their kids. The provide parenting advice and support families as they navigate the challenges and possibilities of raising kids in the digital age.
Cookies
Cookies are are text files with small pieces of data that are used to identify your computer. They can be used to track the user’s browsing activity, button clicking, logins, and page visits. They can save information that the user previously entered into form fields, such as names, addresses, passwords, and payment card numbers.
Darknet
Darknet is the part of the Internet that requires special technology or software to access. Individuals who want to maintain electronic privacy typically use it. Some individuals on the DarkNet are engaged in criminal behavior, such as trading child sexual exploitation material (CSEM), more commonly called child pornography; purchasing of drugs; and selling of stolen identify information. However, the DarkNet is also used by those that want to circumnavigate a tyrannical government’s intrusive surveillance or securely disclose internal corporate documents as part of a whistleblower campaign.
Doxing
Derived from the term “dropping docs,” doxing is the act of revealing someone’s sensitive information online. Abusers use doxing to harass, threaten, or get revenge or blackmail on others.
Emoticon / Emoji
Emoticons or emojis are graphics that are used to express emotion, represented by facial expressions such as:-) (representing a smile), formed by various combinations of keyboard characters and used to convey the writer’s feelings or intended tone.
Emojis can be used in sexting, it’s helpful if you and your partner associate the same meanings to emojis (otherwise things might get awkward, fast). Here is a list of sexy hidden meanings.
Bone – Sending this with a question mark is a quick and easy way to ask for a hookup.
Hot Pepper – This can be used to express that you want to heat things up.
Cherry – symbolizes sexual inexperience or testicles
Strawberry – means the sender is ripe and ready to go for it.
Eggplant, Banana, Carrot – Penis
Peach – Butt, bottom, booty
Taco – Vagina
Lolipop – oral sex
Camel – hump
Flame – attractive, hot
Fireworks – orgasm
Scissors – sex
Drool face – turned on
Lipstick – can be paired with fruit for oral sex
Digital
A digital device is a piece of physical equipment that uses digital data, and sends, receives, stores, or processes it. Digital parenting describes parental efforts and practices for comprehending, supporting, and regulating children’s activities in digital environments. Parents can “mediate” children’s activities with digital technologies
Fetish
The term “fetishism” originates from the Portuguese word feitico, which means “obsessive fascination.” Most individuals find particular nongenital bodily features attractive, indicating that some level of fetishism is a normal feature of human sexuality. However, fetishistic arousal may become a problem when it interferes with normal sexual or social functioning, or when sexual arousal is impossible without the fetish object.
According to the DSM-5, fetishistic disorder is characterized as a condition in which there is a persistent and repetitive use of or dependence on nonliving objects (such as undergarments or high-heeled shoes) or a highly specific focus on a body part (most often nongenital, such as feet) to reach sexual arousal. Only through use of this object, or focus on this body part, can the individual obtain sexual gratification. In earlier versions of the DSM, fetishistic disorder revolving around nongenital body parts was known as partialism; in the latest version, partialism was folded into fetishistic disorder.
Since fetishes occur in many normally developing individuals, a diagnosis of fetishistic disorder is only given if there is accompanying personal distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning as a result of the fetish. People who identify as fetishists but do not report associated clinical impairment would be considered to have a fetish but not fetishistic disorder.
Common fetish objects include undergarments, footwear, gloves, rubber articles, and leather clothing. Body parts associated with fetishistic disorder include feet, toes, and hair. It is common for the fetish to include both inanimate objects and body parts (e.g., socks and feet). For some, merely a picture of the fetish object may cause arousal, though many with a fetish prefer (or require) the actual object in order to achieve arousal. The fetishist usually holds, rubs, tastes, or smells the fetish object for sexual gratification or asks their partner to wear the object during sexual encounters.
Inanimate object fetishes can be categorized into two types: form fetishes and media fetishes. In a form fetish, the shape of the object is important, such as high-heeled shoes. In a media fetish, the material of the object, such as silk or leather, is important. Inanimate object fetishists often collect the object of their favor.
FAP
The expression “fap” is an onomatopoeic Internet slang term for male masturbation that first appeared in the 1999 web comic Sexy Losers to indicate the sound of a male character masturbating.
Gif
Stands for graphics interchange format, a digital file format devised in 1987 by the Internet service provider CompuServe as a means of reducing the size of images and short animations.
As a verb, to search for information about (someone or something) on the internet using the search engine Google.
Hentai
Hentai is a genre of Japanese manga and anime characterized by overtly sexualized characters, themes, sexually explicit images and plots.
Hotspot
Hotspot is a term referred to asite that offers Internet access over a wireless local area network through the use of a router connected to a link to an Internet service provider. Hotpots typically use Wi-Fi technology and may be foud in coffeshops, aiports, and various other public establishments.
Incel
Incel stands for “involuntary celibate,” is a member of an online subculture of people who define themselves as unable to find a romantic or sexual partner despite desiring one. Discussions in incel forums are often characterized by resentment, hatred, misogyny, misanthropy, self-pity and self-loathing, racism, a sense of entitlement to sex, and the endorsement of violence against women and sexually active people. Incels are mostly male and heterosexuals. Estimates of the overall size of the subculture vary greatly, ranging from thousands to hundreds of thousands of individuals.
Internet
The Internet is a vast network that connects computers all over the world. Through the Internet, people can share information and communicate from anywhere with an Internet connection. The Internet emerged in the United States in the 1970s but did not become visible to the general public until the early 1990s. By 2020, approximately 4.5 billion people, or more than half of the world’s population, were estimated to have access to the Internet.
IP Address
IP Address (internet protocol) is a unique number assigned to every machine that is on the Internet. If a machine does not have an IP Address, it cannot connect to the Internet. There are currently two types of IP addressed, one ofwhch consistsofo four parts separated by dots (e.g. 165.113.245.2)
Instagram is a popular social media site where individuals can take and upload pictures. Sometimes simply referred to as “IG” or “The Gram” one can also look at the content uploaded and shared by other users. Instagram is owned by Google.
Manga
Meme
Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription streaming service and production company. Launched on August 29, 1997, it offers a library of films and television series through distribution deals as well as its own productions, known as Netflix Originals.
Non Consensual pornography
Nonconsensual pornography refers to the distribution of sexual or pornographic images of individuals without their consent. This may include images taken without consent or images taken with consent but later distributed without the consent of those in the images. These images are sometimes referred to as revenge porn.
Podcast
A digital audio file made available on the internet for downloading to a computer or mobile device, typically available as a series, new installments of which can be received by subscribers automatically. A podcast series usually features one or more recurring hosts engaged in a discussion about a particular topic or current event. Discussion and content within a podcast can range from carefully scripted to completely improvised. Podcasts combine elaborate and artistic sound production with themes and content.
Revenge porn
Same as Non-consensual pornography above. The material may have been made by a partner in an intimate relationship with the knowledge and consent of the subject at the time, or it may have been made without their knowledge. The subject may have experienced sexual violence during the recording of the material, in some cases facilitated by narcotics such as date rape drugs which also cause a reduced sense of pain and involvement in the sexual act, dissociative effects, and amnesia.
Sexting
Sexting is the electronic transmission of sexual content, such as text, images, or videos, typically shared via the phone. Sexting can be both invited and uninvited.
Sextortion
Sextortion involves an individual using digital sexual content to blackmail or elicit compliance from another online user. The perpetrator may assume a false identity, like in catfishing, to
Smart device
A smart device is an electronic device, generally connected to other devices or networks via different wireless protocols such as Bluetooth, Zigbee, NFC, Wi-Fi, LiFi, 5G, etc., that can operate to some extent interactively and autonomously.
Smartphone
Smartphone is a mobile phone that offers more advanced computing ability and connectivity. Smartphones may be thought of as handheld computers integrated with a mobile phone, a personal pocket computer.
Social media
Social media is a broad term that refers to various digital platforms and applications that allow users to produce, share, and distribute content. As of 2020, some of the most popular social media platforms include Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, LinkedIn, YouTube and Twitter.
Streaming
Streaming is commonly associated with services like Netflix and Amazon Prime. It involves the person viewing content in real-time and that content is stored remotely and not on the person’s device. Conversely, traditional downloads are stored on one’s personal device. In order to stream, one needs high-speed Internet.
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