By Michaela Gordoni
We’ve come a long way since LOL — today’s kids use a lot more text acronyms than adults.
Most text lingo is harmless, but it can sometimes indicate cyberbullying or mental health concerns.
“Acronyms are [used] for ease of typing, as it’s just quicker to tap out ‘ILY’ instead of ‘I love you,’” said Bark Chief Parenting Officer Titiania Jordan. “Text codes are different. They can be used to cover your tracks in case someone is monitoring your messages.”
For example, “🍃” is a code for “marijuana,” and “seggs” means “sex.”
“Texting codes certainly can be used to avoid adult detection of risky behaviors,” said Erin Walsh, author of It’s Their World: Teens, Screens, and the Science of Adolescence. “But they can also just be shorthand ways for young people to build connections with friends and demonstrate belonging to a group.”
Parents shared an extensive list of acronyms parents should know:
- BRB – “Be right back”
- BTW – “By the way”
- FOMO – “Fear of missing out”
- GOAT – “Greatest of all time”
- GTG – “Got to go”
- GR8 – “Great”
- IMO – “In my opinion”
- ISO – “In search of”
- IYKYK – “If you know you know” (meant to imply that there’s an inside joke)
- ILY – “I love you”
- IRL – “In real life”
- JK – “Just kidding”
- KMS – “Kill myself”
- KYS – “Kill yourself”
- L8R – “Later”
- LMAO – “Laughing my ass off”
- LOL – “Laugh(ing) out loud”
- NP – “No problem”
- OMW – “On my way”
- OFC – “Of course”
- ROTF – “Rolling on the floor” (typically in laughter)
- SMH – “Shaking my head” (“I don’t believe it” or “that’s so dumb”)
- STFU – “Shut the **** up”
- TBH – “To be honest”
- TYVM – “Thank you very much”
- WYD – “What you doing?”
- WTF – “What the ****?”
- WYA – “Where you at?”
- WYD – “What you doing?”
- WUF – “Where you from?”
Related: Texting Changes How Families Communicate, but Is That a Good Thing?
Some more serious ones are:
- ASL – “Age/sex/location”
- CD9 or Code 9 – “Parents are around”
- DTF – “Down to ****”
- FBOI – “**** boy” (or a guy just looking for sex)
- FWB – “Friends with benefits”
- Grippy sock vacation – “A stay in a psychiatric treatment facility”
- I had pasta tonight – “I had suicidal thoughts”
- I finished my shampoo and conditioner at the same time – “I’m having suicidal thoughts”
- KMS – “Kill myself”
- KYS – “Kill yourself”
- LMIRL – “Let’s meet in real life”
- Menty b – “mental breakdown”
- NP4NP – “Naked pic for naked pic”
- POS – “Parent over shoulder”
- Sewerslide – “Suicide”
- STFU – “Shut the f**k up”
- TDTM – “Talk dirty to me”
- Unalive – “Kill” or “dead”
If you see some of these comments on your child’s social media — that they or someone else has commented, such as “KYS” — that could be a sign of cyberbullying.
Welch encouraged parents to not assume the worst if they see this lingo and to talk to their kids about it. She advised parents to let their kids know they are there to help and avoid becoming “a spy.”
The Child Rescue Coalition argued that “You can’t protect kids from what you don’t know is happening.” It recommended respectful monitoring for older teens (15+), talking to kids of all ages about digital responsibility and literacy. It emphasized the importance of guarding kids against bullies, online predators and explicit content.
The American Psychological Association encouraged this exercise for teens and parents: “Talk to your teen weekly about how social media platforms work so they feel safe telling you about their experiences without judgment. Ask them what they saw on social media, how they understand what was posted, and pose hypothetical questions to them to learn how they would respond to various situations they might encounter online.”
Hopefully, this guide will prepare you to approach digital conversations with your child with curiosity, compassion and the confidence to help them navigate their online world safely and wisely.
Read Next: The Slang Evolution: Why Gen Alpha Calls Each Other ‘Chat’
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