Is Your Child Texting About

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Part of a series on Decoding Teen Slang Parodies. [View Related Entries]

About

Is Your Child Texting About is a phrasal template meant to parody alarmist news reports regarding secret text-messaging codes that teenagers use. In this case, the code language is focused on a particular subculture, which in the context of the meme appears innocent.

Origin

While reports about teen texting languages have been made about such apps as Snapchat as well as text-message abbreviations, like LOL for the last decade, the earliest known instance of the parody was posted on June 21st, 2017 by Twitter ^[1] user @frost_emma. That day, the user posted a 2016 stock photograph^[2] of a woman staring anxiously at her cell phone above a list of terms under the title "Is Your Child Texting About Classical Music?" The post (shown below) received nine retweets and 11 likes. However, when shared on FunnyJunk, ^[3] the meme received more than 1,000 upvotes, and on the /r/ClassicalMemes^[4] subreddit, it received more than 200 points (98% upvotes).

Precursor

Prior to the "Is Your Child Texting About" format, memes and photoshops featuring lists of "teen texting codes" were commonly found online. For example, on January 24th, 2015, Redditor iskiran posted a version in the /r/Funny^[7] called "Cracking the 'Teen Texting Code.'" The post (shown below) received more than 17,000 points (84% upvoted) and 1,100 comments in three years.

Spread

Additionally, on June 21st, 2017, the Facebook ^[5] account published a variation that featured the headline "Is Your Child Texting About Communism?" The post (shown below, left) received more than 4,400 reactions, 14,000 shares and 3,900 comments in eight months.

Less than one week later, on June 27th, a variation appeared on the 4chan ^[6] /tv/ messageboard. That day, an anonymous user posted a photoshopped version (shown below, center) that reads "Is Your Child Texting About Twin Peaks?"

On September 6th, 2017, Boing Boing^[8] published a version (shown below, right) that featured a list for "Is Your Child Texting About Anarcho-Communism?"

On November 24th, 2017, Twitter^[9] user @SolaVenatus tweeted, "Is your child texting about Mario Kart?" The list (shown below) included specifics and abbreviations for the video game Mario Kart.

Following this tweet, text-based versions of the meme became more common. The following year, on January 14th, 2018, Twitter^[10] user @itsamandaeileen tweeted, "is your child texting about @starwars?" The list (shown below, left) featured examples specific to the Star Wars franchise. Within a month, the post received more than 300 retweets and 1,200 likes.

On January 22nd, Twitter^[9] user @jillianallyce tweeted, "Is your child texting about @olivegarden? Here’s a quick guide to find out:" The post (shown below, center) received more than 22,000 retweets and 67,000 likes in less than one week.

One week later, on January 29th, Twitter^[11] user @IgnatiusUnderh2 tweeted, "Is your child texting about Classical Greek Literature?" The post (shown below, right) received more than 2,200 retweets and 5,800 likes in 24 hours.

Following the popularity on Twitter, several media outlets including The Daily Dot^[12] and Mashable^[13] published articles on the meme. Twitter^[14] published a Moments page to catalog some of the more popular variations.