Parenting: Text Messaging Acronyms and Apps You Should Know

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Tech trends are known for shifting in the wind but there is no user group more fickle than those of the under 18 crowd. These days SMS is quickly becoming a thing of the past in lieu of social messaging apps. Depending on what they want to say teens are choosing a handful of apps to fit their needs. If they don’t want a message to hang around, they’ll use a temporary app such as Snapchat while Yik Yak offers anonymity and Kik offers a mixture of the two.

Must Know Text Messaging Acronyms and Shorthand

PAP – Post a picture
143 – I love you
Netflix and chill – Code for hooking up or a “booty call”
CD9 aka Code 9 – Code for parents are around
AF – Acronym “as f**k” used to express the severity of something (ie hot AF)
GNOC – Get Naked On Cam
OP – Original Poster
Likers get rate – This means the original poster will “rank” anyone who interacts with the post by rating them on looks/how cool they appear.

Kik

Kik Messenger is trending for a number of reasons. It allows users to send private messages that their parents can’t see. It offers the false sense of security of anonymity thru usernames and allows users to send text, pictures and video. But there’s more to Kik than meets the eye. In addition to unlimited text; you get ‘read’ receipts; can send individual group messages; surf the Web; and you access contents from within the app. Another concerning feature is that Kik allows users to search for people based on things like age and gender.

SnapChat

SnapChat has been growing exponentially lately especially within the teen demographic. It’s an app that was designed to make messages brief. Users can view the message for a limited amount of time before it disappears from the screen. However, a simple screenshot freezes that snap permanently to a user’s camera roll – something teens and adults learned very quickly upon release of the app.

YikYak

Yik Yak is set up like a mixture of Twitter and Tinder. Like Twitter, it’s a free app that lets users post brief comments. Like Tinder, it’s geographically based. The comments are shown to 500 of the nearest Yik-Yak users (within a 1.5 mile radius). Kids are using it to share opinions, rumors, secrets, and gossip. 

It’s important to discuss which messaging apps your teens are using and to establish an open dialogue about all things mobile safety. The web can be a scary place but proper dialogue, the right amount of parental advisory and staying “in the know” goes a long way to keeping our kids safe. 

Surf and Sunshine is a member of the #VZWBuzz Lifestyle Blogger program. All opinions remain our own.

34 thoughts on “Parenting: Text Messaging Acronyms and Apps You Should Know”

  1. The only app I know from this list is Snapchat. I only recently started using it and it’s a fun app for sure. One thing I don’t like about it is that a see way too many people using this app while they are driving and that just scares the crap out of me.

    Reply
  2. So many popular social media apps available to download. I haven’t tried Snapchat yet. Sounds pretty interesting

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  3. This makes me feel old! I had no idea some of these “code words”. I’ll definitely be keeping my eye out for these on my teens phones.

    Reply

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