This is so real. I remember being a preteen when pagers were a big thing, and seeing a newspaper article written for parents that listed all of these ‘pager codes’ so parents could decode what their kids were saying to each other. Out of a list of perhaps 20, I only recognized 3 and the rest were so elaborate and clearly made up for this article. A few years later, I saw a nearly identical article listing largely the same ‘codes’ but for AIM chats. Shit like ‘2219’ means ‘parents nearby, pick the drugs up at Sally’s instead’. Like wtf?

Like you said, inventing a largely imagined culture for the generation they’re completely out of touch with.

Instead of ‘decoding’ what kids are saying, how about actually talking to them?