Your Emoji Cheat Sheet: Is Your Child's Emoji Use Hiding Something?

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Is there a day that goes by when there isn’t some new term floating around between today's youth? You are lit, rizz, salty or simping! It genuinely gives me a headache to hear some of the new words the youth make up! For parents and teachers, I am sure the struggle is very real. I previously wrote a post about this very topic, which you can find below.

Text abbreviations every parent should know

Luckily, it can’t get any worse for you though……… Wrong! There is also the secret language of the emoji! Fear not, I am here to try and help you decode the emoji and provide you with a cheat sheet to enable you to recognise any situations that may be brewing.

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Risks To Be Aware Of

As always, let us first try to understand the risks that could be associated with this secretive emoji language.

• Possible Miscommunication: The 👍🏻 emoji is pretty harmless, am I right? No I am wrong very wrong! In the mysterious world of the teenager, this can be seen as sarcastic or passive-aggressive. Already, we can see the chance of tension and confusion between different age groups.

• Bullying or Peer Pressure: Emojis and certain language can be used to hide more nefarious activities like bullying and peer pressure. Words like ‘Cheugy’ or ‘delulu’¹ may look harmless but can undermine individuals in very subtle ways.

• Constantly Shifting Meanings: As with the terminology that teens use, the emoji and its meaning can change overnight. An emoji of a person standing🧍at one time signified awkwardness, but could now signify something completely different. The ever-changing nature of this language is difficult for kids and, therefore, for parents and teachers, can be even more so. Maybe my go-to advice on communication could help here?

• Hiding Harm or Distress: Some emojis can be used to discreetly signal worrying behaviour. For example, falling leaves 🍂 or the pill emoji 💊 could be a suggestion of drug abuse, whilst the wilted flower emoji 🥀 could be hinting at emotional struggles. Usage like this could be obscuring serious issues and masking them from adults who care.

• Normalising Dodgy/Risky Behaviour: Emojis are playful representations of activities and emotions, so they can often appear light-hearted or trendy. Emojis like 🥴+💊 together could actually be referencing partying with drugs or dangerous viral online challenges and should be a red flag to parents.

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Advice For Parents & Teachers

So what advice can I give you? It follows along with the normal themes I tend to give you, but in particular.

• Everyday Is A Learning Day: Try and stay up to date with emoji trends and meanings. There are some really useful resources out there like Emojipedia or Urban Dictionary (Word of warning though, Urban Dictionary can contain some pretty distasteful explanations of terminology that is floating around the world. You have been warned!) Knowing current trends can also help you to build confidence when engaging with young people.

• Never Assume (It makes an ASS out of U and ME): If you are unfamiliar with an emoji a curious rather than a suspicious approach can be best. “What does the (🍆) emoji mean these days? After you get over the answer, it can open up conversations and show them that you respect their knowledge and openness.

• Safe Spaces: We should be all about creating a safe space for discussion and casual chats about emojis, online slang, memes and other trends. Showing an interest without judgment will reassure them that you can be approached and they can talk to you about their digital presence openly.

• Trust Before Surveillance: I have written about parental controls plenty in the past and you all know I see them as very important tools in the fight against predators but in this instance you also need to be somebody that children can approach as parental controls are not foolproof , especially in regard to secretive languages!

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Common Emojis Cheatsheet:

The following slang terms and emojis are some common examples - please be aware this isn't an exhaustive list.

(🤡) Foolishness or clowning around

(🥺) Over-affectionate or simping

(😎) Cool, stylish or ruthless

(👀) Watching drama unfold

(🐐) Greatest of all time (G.O.A.T.)

(🗿) Stone-faced, unbothered

(🥵) Intense attraction or excitement

(👑) 'Slaying', as in doing great

(💅) Confidence, sassiness, or indifference

(🚩) Red flag; a warning sign about someone's behaviour

Potentially Concerning Emojis:

(🌽) Slang for pornography (avoids censorship algorithms)

(❄️,⛄or 🌨️) Can symbolise cocaine

(🔑 or 🤥) Related to cocaine use

(🍂, 🌿, or 🍁) Can symbolise cannabis

(💊 ) May reference drug use or prescription misuse

(🥀) Often used to convey emotional struggle or sadness

(🐍 ) Can represent betrayal or being 'two-faced

(🔫) Sometimes used to reference violence or self-harm

(⚠️) Used to emphasise drama, threats or emotional turmoil

(🍜) Refers to nudes ('noods' is an abbreviation of noodles)

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As always, thank you for your support. Please share this across your social media, and if you do have any comments, questions, or concerns, then feel free to reach out to me here or on BlueSky, as I am always happy to spend some time helping to protect children online.

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1. Cheugy: Something that is outdated and trying too hard to be trendy; a bit cringy

Delulu: Delusional