Teen Hashtags- What All Parents Need To Know!

Sep 12, 2015 | Parental Controls

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Hashtags have become a normal part of social media interaction. Whether it’s about writing a comment, status or expressing your opinion Hashtags are a must. Just adding a ‘#’ at the start of a word, easily bring the posts under the umbrella of the same topic, i.e. #tbt which means throw back Thursday. Teens use a lot of hashtags on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Tumblr. Most of the times, they use these to express emotions of love, hate, humor or irony. However, in a world where teens do most of their communication online, hashtags can provide quite a lot of insight along with red flags for parents – if they are paying attention.

Some online groups actually encourage unhealthy behaviors, like eating disorders, bullying, or practicing self-harm and other ways to make teens feel better. For instance, earlier this year a concerning hashtag got very popular- #thighgap. Extremely skinny young girls posted their pictures with this hashtag, showing that they were so skinny that their thighs didn’t touch when their legs were put together. Other such hashtags are #thinspiration, #ana, and #thinspro. All these hashtags are often used by teens who talk about anorexia or any sort of eating disorder. Here are some popular hashtags that are a red flag in your teen’s posts:

Eating Disorders Hashtags:

  • #secretsociety123
  • #fakesmile
  • #imnotokay,
  • #anorexia
  • #hipbones
  • #helpme
  • #collarbones
  • #blades
  • #paranoia
  • #eatingdisorder

Self harm hashtags:

  • #suicidal
  • #harm
  • #selfhate
  • #heartbreak
  • #sleepless
  • #killme
  • #falling
  • #worthless
  • #cuts

Bullying Hashtags:

  • #derp – stupid
  • #jelly – jealous
  • #butters – ugly
  • #gokillyourself
  • #rab – rude a** b***h
  • #yag – you are gay

Red flag Hashtags:

  • #chirped – got caught
  • #cu46 – See you for sex
  • #nsfw – not safe for work
  • #420 – marijuana
  • #kikmessenger
  • #bullied
  • #pron – Porn
  • #lmirl – let’s meet in real life

Other OK Hashtags:

  • #smh – shaking my head
  • #bae – babe
  • #mupload – upload via mobile
  • #lmao – laughing my a** off
  • #ootd – outfit of the day
  • #wcw – woman crush Wednesday
  • #idek – I don’t even know
  • #mce – my crush everyday
  • #igers – Instagrammers

The more you know the better!

You often read or hear about how important online safety is. But what you don’t always hear that the standards of online safety change with the changing trends. These hashtags are popular for now; they might not be next year. So, it is important to keep yourself updated to monitor your teen’s online behavior. You can make this easier for you by using parental control apps. Be a tech-savvy parent and keep your kids safe, digitally!

FamilyTime helps families manage and protect their children’s digital lives.

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