Have you ever wanted to know what teens are saying when they use a flurry of emoji in their texts? Well, this might be your chance. Reporters at Q13 Fox News in Seattle, Washington, may have cracked the code — kind of.
The news report, titled The secret language of emojis: What kids are really saying in texts, dives into what different combinations of emoji used by teenagers really mean. The only issue? The story is quite...alarmist.
"A skull, arrow, and a flame," news anchor John Hopperstad warns. "That can be saying to someone, I hope you die in a fire. Now as parents, we can look at these and have no idea what they mean."
Die in a fire? We didn't know kids were so hardcore and evil these days.
He gave some other examples: A frog emoji means the sender thinks you're ugly. A pair of eyes can mean that the person is asking you to send naked pictures. And the hibiscus flower? It means drugs.
(Which honestly makes us ask ourselves, Will this become the meme of 2017?) According to Hopperstad, teens use emoji codes because they're "ten steps ahead of us." That's why parents should be "on top of how kids are communicating with their phones." He sort of makes a point there: Parents should definitely monitor what their kids do with their phones. But truly, the only way to achieve this is to foster communication with your children to figure out what's going on with their lives, not to freak out about whether the hibiscus flower means your kid is using drugs. We don't know who snitched to Hopperstad, but teens probably tossed out the code and made a new one while you were reading this. So if you're a parent, stop worrying about the damn pair of eyes and go have a real talk with your kid.
(Which honestly makes us ask ourselves, Will this become the meme of 2017?) According to Hopperstad, teens use emoji codes because they're "ten steps ahead of us." That's why parents should be "on top of how kids are communicating with their phones." He sort of makes a point there: Parents should definitely monitor what their kids do with their phones. But truly, the only way to achieve this is to foster communication with your children to figure out what's going on with their lives, not to freak out about whether the hibiscus flower means your kid is using drugs. We don't know who snitched to Hopperstad, but teens probably tossed out the code and made a new one while you were reading this. So if you're a parent, stop worrying about the damn pair of eyes and go have a real talk with your kid.