Teen Sexting Upswing: 50 Terms Every Parent Should Know

Teens are sending more sexually explicit text messages, photos and videos — known as sexting — than ever before, according to a new report. The majority of teenagers under 18 are keeping it clean, but 15 percent of teens say they’ve sent texts and 27 percent say they have received them.

The results of the study, published Monday in the journal JAMA Pediatrics, aren’t too surprising, given the ubiquity of smartphones. At least 73 percent of teenagers have access to a smartphone, according to the Pew Research Center, and the study’s authors said they expected the percentage of sexting teens to be much higher.

But what was surprising to lead author Sheri Madigan, an assistant professor in the department of psychology at the Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute at the University of Calgary in Canada, and her colleagues was an increase in non-consensual sharing, reported by 1 in 8 youths.

Madigan and her colleagues analyzed 39 studies involving about 10,300 young men and women under the age of 18 for their report on teen sexting.

There may be many reasons the percent of kids who sent and received sext messages don’t add up, the report said. One possibility is that explicit photos videos and messages were passed on beyond the original recipient without consent. It's also possible that some teens who sext may not receive reciprocal messages or may have been unwilling to report them.

The analysis showed that as teens mature, they send more sext messages, which the authors suggested is a normal part of sexual behavior and development that also corresponds with greater access to smartphones. But one study showed that 1 percent of kids younger than 12 either appeared in or received nude images or videos — which may make them more vulnerable to threats and blackmail, and make them at risk for an early sexual debut or other behaviors with negative consequences.

Most kids get their first smartphone when they’re around 10, and that suggests to Madigan and her colleagues that sexting may be a consequence of growing up in a digital age.

“Consequently, efforts and resources to criminalize sexts should be redirected to educational programs on digital citizenship and healthy relationships,” they said. “It is important for middle school educators, pediatricians, and parents to have ongoing conversations with tweens regarding sexting and digital citizenship.”

Policymakers should, however, be concerned about the rate of nonconsensual sexting among younger kids, especially with “revenge porn” laws that make it a criminal offense to share intimate images of a person without the person’s consent.

“However, because many existing laws were intended to punish adult behavior, policymakers must be aware of the implications of these laws for adolescent offenders while not introducing legal loopholes for adult offenders,” they wrote.

Here’s a list of 50 common sexting and texting terms every parent should know:

1. 8 – it means ate, can also refer to oral sex
2. 9 – Parent watching
3. 99 – Parent gone
4. 1337 – Elite, leet or L337
5. 143 – I love you
6. 1174 – the meeting place, meet at
7. 420 – Marijuana
8. 459 – I love you
9. 53X – Sex
10. ADR – Address
11. AEAP – As Early As Possible
12. ALAP – As Late As Possible
13. ASL – Age/Sex/Location
14. BROKEN – hungover from alcohol
15. CD9 – Code 9 (parents are around)
16. C-P – Sleepy
17. F2F – Face-to-Face
18. GNOC – Get Naked On Cam
19. GYPO – Get Your Pants Off
20. HAK – Hugs And Kisses
21. ILU – I Love You
22. IWSN – I Want Sex Now
23. KOTL – Kiss On The Lips
24. KFY or K4Y – Kiss For You
25. KPC – Keeping Parents Clueless
26. LMIRL – Let’s Meet In Real Life
27. MOOS – Member Of The Opposite Sex
28. MOSS – Member Of The Same Sex
29. MorF – Male or Female
30. MOS – Mom Over Shoulder
31. MPFB – My Personal F*** Buddy
32. NALOPKT – Not A Lot Of People Know That
33. NIFOC – Nude In Front Of The Computer
34. NMU – Not Much, You?
35. P911 – Parent Alert
36. PAL – Parents Are Listening -or- Peace And Love
37. PAW – Parents Are Watching
38. PIR – Parent In Room
39. POS – Parent Over Shoulder or Piece Of Sh**
40. pron – Porn
41. Q2C – Quick To Cum
42. RU/18 – Are You Over 18?
43. RUMORF – Are You Male OR Female?
44. RUH – Are You Horny?
45. S2R – Send To Receive
46. SorG – Straight or Gay
47. TDTM – Talk Dirty To Me
48. WUF – Where You From
49. WYCM – Will You Call Me?
50. WYRN – What’s Your Real Name?

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