Revealed: The truth behind 'concerning' TikTok emoji trend after parents express their fears
Parents have shared their concern over a mysterious emoji TikTok trend that's become popular with teens and young adults - but its meaning is far from sinister.
One mother was worried when she came across a video her daughter had posted with a seemingly cryptic use of emojis, however, people were quick to explain the deceptively simple trend.
Teens are spelling their names using emojis that start with the same letters so an 'R' could be symbolised by a rabbit emoji, for example.
Videos of social media users adopting the code to share the nicknames they dislike versus their real names have been flooding TikTok.
'Might be being overprotective but I know there's a 'thing' about emojis and their meanings. Can anyone decipher this at all for me?' the cautious mother asked in a popular Facebook group.
She added a screenshot of a video with the words 'when I get called' before a series of emojis and then 'instead of' before another sequence of the icons, as per a harmless TikTok trend where people share the nicknames they're given that they don't like.
Members were quick to put the mother's fears to bed explaining the sentence would read 'When I get called Immi instead of Imogen'.
'It's a name trend, so you take the first letter of the emoji and work out the names,' one woman explained.
Videos of social media users adopting the code to share the nicknames they dislike versus their real names have been flooding TikTok
'It's the letters the words start with, so in this case, it's Immi and Imogen,' another wrote.
'Good parenting to be concerned. Good job, mama,' a third added.
The fun trend was quickly embraced by parents who started spelling out the names of their children - and even their pets - in emojis and having people guess what they were.
Concerns about teens using emojis cryptically come after parents were warned to be aware of the meanings in their children's online messages, as Netflix's Adolescence highlighted the language teens are using online.
Codes like '420' for marijuana, '#ana' for anorexia and '#sue' for suicide are used by teens to discuss drugs, mental health, and sex with each other.
Adolescence followed the story of 13-year-old Jaime who murdered a female classmate, following an exchange of messages online using emojis with certain hidden meanings.
In the world of 'manosphere' influencers, pills, the '100' emoji and even kidney beans can be a sign that someone is an 'incel' - a radical misogynist who believes they are an 'involuntary celibate'.
However it doesn't stop there, now Nottinghamshire Police have revealed how several words, hashtags and acronyms could also be dangerous code words.
The police force has categorised the words, hashtags and acronyms into three categories – warning flags, terms to keep an eye on and fun.
Speaking to netmums, the police revealed they found 52 concerning secret codes with many 'warning flags' related to drugs and alcohol.
The term wired means 'drug induced paranoia', wavey stands for drunk or high, and Molly means ecstasy or MDMA.
Meanwhile, others have a focus on mental health, including code words for anorexia, depression and even suicide.
The police claimed that #svv, means 'self-harming behaviour', while #deb stands for 'depression'.
Some teens have even been using acronyms to talk to each other about sex, while others were being bullied online without the code words getting flagged by adults.
Worrying acronym CU46, which means 'see you for sex', has often been used, while GNOC, get naked on camera, is also used.
Harmless acronyms
TMB – 'tweet me back'
VSF – 'very sad face'
SWAK – 'sealed with a kiss'
TBR – 'to be rude'
PAP – 'post a picture'
WTPA – 'where's the party at?'
Airs – ignoring
Parring – someone has accused your child of being disrespectful
Salty – to be bitter about someone or something
Slipping – messing up
Preeing – looking at someone online
FAIK – as far as I know
CBA – can't be bothered
DWBH – don't worry be happy
FWIW – for what it's worth
HAND – have a nice day
RAK – random act of kindness
Bruh – a casual nickname for 'bro'
Cray – crazy
Dench – fantastic or cool
Gassed – happy
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