The Mom: Let’s discuss this quote from Orwell’s 1984: “Don’t you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought?” What does this mean to you? What is revealed about the Party and its philosophy?

The 13 y.o.: Well, clearly he’s talking about texting. You know, acronyms like LOL. OH! And emoticons!

The Mom: Because Orwell had an iPhone and Facebook?

The 13 y.o.: You asked what it meant to me. And to me, it’s also like cursive. I was taught it ages ago, but I don’t remember it now. And it’s really hard to read. And the less that cursive is taught in school, the less my generation will know how to read letters or diaries that were written in cursive.

The Mom: Hmm. Ok. I think you were on the right track with texting language, as much as it pains me to reduce Orwell to an emoticon.

The 13 y.o: If Orwell was an emoticon, he”d be the frowny face.