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Nowadays, kids don’t use emojis so much; they use abbreviations and acronyms. Abbreviations are a short form of a word or phrase, and acronyms are letters made of the initials of a phrase. Kids use abbreviations when texting and even when they’re having a normal conversation.

Some acronyms also mean the same thing, but people think the wording differs. An example is LOL. It generally means something is funny, but there’s a debate about whether it’s “Lots Of Laughter” or “Laugh Out Loud.” A few common acronyms/abbreviations are “BRB” (be right back), TBH (to be honest), TTYL (talk to you later), and IDK (I don’t know).

Twelve-year-old Zac Nowytarger and his friends believe there’s no use for emojis anymore.

“Emojis have gotten older and even though abbreviated words don’t show much emotion in a text, emojis aren’t really used so there’s no point keeping them around. It’s quicker to write abbreviated words rather than having to spend more time writing the full words, even if it’s a couple of letters shorter,” Nowytarger said.

We Are Social chief executive officer Suzie Shaw said they’ve seen a significant rise in teens using acronyms.

“For example, while Boomers and Millennials use the thumbs-up emoji as a sign of encouragement or approval, Gen Z often uses it as a sarcastic or passive-aggressive ‘good job’ on something you messed up,” Shaw said.

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