• LOL = Laughing Out Loud
  • OMG = Oh My God
  • TTYL = Talk To You Later
  • BRB = Be Right Back

Above are very easy and common text shorthand acronyms many kids and adults, including myself, use while texting.  Even though they are innocent to the human eye there are other shorthand acronyms that parents might not be aware of when their child is texting/skyping/Snapchatting/messaging their friends.

According to KVUE if your child has a smart phone you can bet they're on Snapchat, Facebook, and Instagram and are texting their friends with secret code words or "lingo" that many parents like myself don't know about.

I think it's time some of us parents decode these cryptic acronyms because in all honesty it could possibly not only save the life of your child(ren), but their friends lives too.

Adam Berry, Getty Images
Adam Berry, Getty Images
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Brian Bason is the CEO of BARK - a safety app for parents and teens that monitor sites and services teens use for red flag words and the context they're using them in.

Brian Bason says:

The stakes are high, and today’s parents need new ways to safeguard their teens from the harmful side effects of online interaction

The website BARK scans over 10 million messages from teens per month from 21 various outlets like social media and email accounts. They concluded a most recent list of secret acronyms teens use and this may be alarming to some parents.

  • 53X = Another 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

Now to the kids defense KMS or KYS is used in context of embarrassment and the kids are being sarcastic which is no real red flag. Nevertheless, that is not a free pass to use the term.

However, according to Brandon Wirtz, the CEO of artificial intelligence and machine-learning service, Recognant, the acronym:

GNOC = "Get Naked On Camera" was typed a massive 4,384 times on Android phones in the U.S. in 2016

As a parent myself I don't want to worry you, but I do want you to be aware of the "secret acronyms" your children might be texting to one another.  There is a website called Netlingo that helps parents decode "secret acronyms" and actually created a list of the "Top 50 Acronyms Parents Need To Know".

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