If your teen has a smartphone, chances are they spend several hours a day on text and social media. If you ever look at what they’re actually doing on there, you’ll likely see a lot of innocent “Snapstreaking,” some funny Buzzfeed videos and a bunch of letters and numbers that look like some kind of modern-day shorthand.
You probably use some of these yourself:
- LOL = laugh(ing) out loud
- GR8 = great
- IRL = in real life
- TYVM = thank you very much
- IMHO = in my humble opinion
- BRB = be right back
- J/K = just kidding
- L8R = later
- NP = no problem
- WYD= what you doing?
While most of these terms are completely innocent, some child safety experts warn there can be more than meets the eye with texting codes. Some strange texting lingo might double as code for suicidal thoughts, bullying, sex and drugs.
According to the National Institute of Mental Health, suicide is the second leading cause of deaths for young adults and adults ages 15 to 34. In recent years, the problem of teen suicide has taken on a new dimension in part due to the proliferation of technology.
Common text/social media acronyms
Here’s the most recent list of the top “sneaky” terms that teens use:
- 53X = sneaky way to type "sex"
- KMS = kill myself
- LH6 = let’s have sex
- KYS = kill yourself
- MOS = mom over the shoulder
- POS = parent over shoulder
- CD9 = code 9, parents around
- GNOC = get naked on camera.
- 99 = parents are gone
- WTTP = want to trade photos?
- LMIRL = let’s meet in real life
- 1174 = meet at a party spot
- IWSN = I want sex now
- CU46 = see you for sex
- FWB = friends with benefits
- ADR = what’s your address
- MPFB = my personal f*** buddy
- PAL= parents are listening
- TWD = texting while driving
- GYPO = get your pants off
I ran a bunch of these by own teenage daughter. In her experience, teens use terms like KMS and KYS mainly to describe embarrassment — “I just spilled soda all over my jeans, I want to KMS” — most of the time it’s totally sarcastic and nothing for anyone to worry about.
WATCHDOG APPS FOR PARENTS
One former data scientist agrees. “GNOC was typed a massive 4,384 times on Android phones in the U.S. in 2016,” says Brandon Wirtz, now the CEO of artificial intelligence and machine-learning service Recognant. “In 1,986 of those times the next word was ‘means," — suggesting people were curious about the lingo but not acting on it.
Whether you plan to monitor your kids or are want help deciphering the latest text codes, online website Netlingo is a great resource. It even hosts a curated list of “the top 50 acronyms parents need to know.”
Jennifer Jolly is an Emmy Award-winning consumer tech contributor and host of USA TODAY's digital video show TECH NOW. E-mail her at jj@techish.com. Follow her on Twitter @JenniferJolly.
