One of the intriguing linguistic phenomenon associated with teen’s use of social media and texting is the creation of a wholly new lexicon for communication. This lexicon is grounded in brevity and draws heavily on slang vernacular. 




If you have a chance to look at a snippet of a text message by a teen or even a kid you would be surprised by the number of sheer abbreviations they use to communicate with each other. As parents and teachers we need to be aware of this lingo so that we know what our are kids are saying and be alerted in case of anything going wrong. 

In the list below I compiled for you some of the most popular teenage texting abbreviations based on different sources (see bottom of the post for sources). 

2Day: today
4EAE: Forever and ever
AFK: Away from keyboard
AFC: Away from Computer
ARY: Are You There?
ATM: At the Moment
B4: Before
B4N: Bye for Now
BRB: Be Right Back
BTW: By the way
CUL8R: See You Later
DK: Don’t Know
DM: Direct message
F2F: Face to Face
FOMO: Fear of Missing Out
G2G: Got to Go
GB: Goodbye
HAK: Hugs and kisses
ICYMI: In case you missed it
JJ: Just Joking
JK: Just kidding
J4F: Just for fun
IMO: In my opinion
IRL:  In real life
L8R: Later
LMAO: Laughing my a– off
MO: Mom over the shoulder
NP: No problem
OMG: Oh my god
PAL:  parents are listening
PAW: Parents are watching
PPL: People
RN: Right now
SOS: Someone over shoulder
TBC: To be continued
TTYL: Talk to you later
WYD: what you doing?
WB: Welcome back
WYCM: Will you call me?
Sources: