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Parents, are you aware of these dangerous teen texting codes?

Many teen texting codes are not as innocent as OMG. 
A young woman uses a cellphone

Most parents are familiar with so-called initialisms like LOL (laugh out loud) or perhaps BRB (be right back).

But if your son is on his smartphone and you’re within close proximity, he might use a text code like MOS (“mom over shoulder”). And many codes are not as innocent as OMG. If someone texts your daughter GNOC, it means “get naked on cam.”

As a mother of three young boys in this techy era, this honestly scares me. And it should also scare you, especially if your teenager has a smartphone.

Code for bullying, sex and more

An initialism is an abbreviation consisting of initial letters pronounced separately that form a phrase or sentence.

But some text initialisms can double as code for bullying, drugs, sex and more, including suicidal thoughts. They can hint to serious issues teens face.

Tech company Bark.us, which tracks and collects data on social networks relating to risky behaviors among teens, compiled a list of initialisms that parents should be aware of. Here are 20 of them:

KYS: kill yourself

KMS: kill myself

KPC: keeping parents clueless

DOC: drug of choice

CD9: parents are around

POS: parents over shoulder

MOS: mom over shoulder

99: parents are gone

53X: sex

8: oral sex

FWB: friends with benefits

FYEO: for your eyes only

WTTP: want to trade photos

KFY or K4Y: kiss for you

ADR: what’s your address

420: marijuana

GNOC: get naked on cam

IWSN: I want sex now

Netflix and chill: getting together and hooking up

PAL: parents are listening

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