The words you keep meaning to look up
Every tech and safety word parents keep bumping into — Discord, DNS, algorithm, grooming, sextortion, loot box — explained in a sentence or two, in mom-voice. No jargon, no lectures.
'Free Robux' scam
A fake offer of free in-game currency that tricks kids into handing over their account login or a parent's card details.
'Nudify' app
An AI tool that digitally strips the clothes off a photo of a real person, now being used by kids against classmates and treated as abuse material.
764
A loose online network that targets children and teens — usually through gaming and chat apps — and pressures them into self-harm and worse. Not something a child stumbles into by accident; something to know the footprint of.
Account takeover
When someone steals the login to a child's game or social account and locks them out, often to scam their friends or sell the account.
Age rating
The suggested minimum age for a game, app or show (PG, M, 12+, 17+, and so on). Treat it as a floor, not a green light — the rating rarely accounts for chat, DMs or livestreams.
AI chatbot
A program that talks back like a person — ChatGPT, Snapchat's My AI, Character.AI, Google Gemini. Some are fine for homework; others act like a 24/7 'friend' and can give kids very inappropriate advice.
AI companion/'girlfriend' app
An app offering a flirty or romantic AI partner, marketed to teens and adults, that normalizes intense relationships with a bot.
AI hallucination
When a chatbot states something false with total confidence, which is why kids shouldn't trust it for facts or homework unchecked.
AirDrop
Apple's feature for instantly sending photos between nearby iPhones, which strangers can misuse to send unwanted images if it's set to accept from everyone.
Algorithm
The behind-the-scenes recommendation engine that decides what a kid sees next on TikTok, YouTube, Instagram and the rest. It doesn't care whether the next video is helpful or harmful — only whether they'll keep watching.
Algospeak
Coded words kids use to sneak sensitive topics past app filters — 'unalive' for suicide, 'seggs' for sex, 'le$bean' and so on. If you spot it, it's a signal to lean in on the conversation, not to panic.
Android
Google's operating system — the software that runs most non-Apple phones and tablets (Samsung, Pixel, Oppo and so on). Family Link is Google's built-in parental control layer for it.
APK
The file format for an Android app installed outside Google Play — a common way kids get around install approvals.
App Store
The place a phone or tablet downloads apps from — the App Store on Apple devices, Google Play on Android. Both let you require your approval before a child installs anything new.
ASL
'Age, sex, location?' — an old chat-up line still used by strangers trying to size up a child early in a conversation.
Autoplay
The setting that automatically starts the next video or episode the moment one ends — no tap, no decision. It's the single biggest driver of 'just one more' screen-time blowouts.
Battle pass
A paid season ticket inside a game (Fortnite, Call of Duty and others) that unlocks new rewards over a few weeks — designed to make kids play daily so they don't 'waste' what you paid.
BeReal
An app that pings everyone to post an unfiltered photo at the same random moment each day, which can quietly leak a child's location and routine.
Bluetooth
Short-range wireless that links nearby devices, and lets strangers in the same room send unwanted photos to a phone that's left open to it.
Browser
The app you use to look at websites — Safari, Chrome, Edge, Firefox. Most content filters and 'safe search' settings are set inside the browser (or on the account signed into it).
Burner account
A throwaway account made to stay anonymous or to get back somewhere after being blocked or banned.
Cache
A hidden store of recently viewed pages and images on a device, which can hold traces of activity even after the history is cleared.
Capping
When a predator secretly screen-records a child during a video chat to capture nude footage they can later use for blackmail.
Catfishing
When someone pretends to be a different person online — usually younger, more attractive, or a peer — to build a false relationship. Often the first step in grooming or sextortion.
Character.AI
A popular app where kids chat with AI 'characters' that role-play as people or fictional figures, sometimes drifting into romantic or unsafe territory.
ChatGPT
The best-known AI chatbot, useful for homework help but prone to confident wrong answers and easy to lean on instead of learning.
Clickbait
A sensational headline or thumbnail designed to make you tap even though the actual content is thin, misleading or a trap.
Close Friends
An Instagram setting to share a Story with a hand-picked small list, often used for posts a teen wants kept from the wider world.
Companion AI
A chatbot designed to act like a friend, partner or therapist that's available 24/7 — which can get emotionally sticky and inappropriate for lonely kids.
Cross-play
A feature letting players on different consoles and phones share the same game and chat, widening who can reach your child.
CSAM
The official term for child sexual abuse material (what used to be called 'child porn') — illegal to make, hold or share, and reportable to the NCMEC CyberTipline and police.
Cyberbullying
Bullying that happens through phones, games and apps — nasty messages, exclusion from group chats, spreading photos, pile-ons. In the US, you can report serious material to the platform and to NCMEC's CyberTipline.
Cyberstalking
When someone repeatedly tracks, watches or harasses a person across apps, accounts and devices until they feel unsafe everywhere online.
Data breach
When a company's systems are hacked and customers' personal details leak out, which is why reusing the same password everywhere is so risky.
Deepfake
A fake video, image or audio clip made by AI to show a real person saying or doing something they never did.
Deepfake nudes
Fake naked images of a real person created by AI from ordinary photos — now being used against classmates, and treated as abuse material even though the body isn't real.
Digital footprint
The trail of posts, photos, comments and account activity a person leaves online, which schools, employers or strangers can search up years later.
Disappearing messages
A setting that auto-deletes chats after they're read, which leaves no trace for a parent to see later.
Discord
A chat app built around big group 'servers' and voice channels — huge with gamers, and one of the apps predators use most because strangers can DM kids directly.
DM
Short for 'direct message' — a private one-to-one chat inside an app like Instagram, Snapchat, Discord or Roblox. It's the doorway a stranger uses once they've spotted a child in a public space online.
DNS
The internet's phone book — it turns a name like tiktok.com into an address your device can reach. A free 'family DNS' service (like OpenDNS FamilyShield) blocks the addresses of adult and dodgy sites before the browser even loads them.
DoH (DNS over HTTPS)
A newer way browsers look up websites that hides the request, which can quietly bypass a family DNS filter unless you turn it off.
Doxxing
When someone digs up and publishes a person's private details — home address, school, phone number — online, usually to scare or punish them or to invite others to pile on.
Email sextortion scam
A mass scare email claiming a hacker filmed you watching porn and demanding payment — almost always an empty bluff, not a real hack.
End-to-end encryption
A privacy feature that scrambles messages so only the sender and receiver can read them — great for privacy, but it also means no one can see if something harmful is being sent.
eSIM
A SIM built into the phone that can be switched on digitally, letting an older child add mobile data without a physical card you'd notice.
Esports
Competitive video gaming watched like a sport, which can be a positive pursuit but also fuels pressure to play for hours.
Face-swap
AI that drops one person's face onto another's body in a photo or video, used for harmless fun but also for fake nudes and bullying.
Family Link (Google)
Google's free parental-control app for Android phones and tablets, and for a child's Google account. It's where you approve app installs, set daily time limits and manage what they can see.
Finsta
A secret second Instagram account ('fake insta') a teen keeps hidden from parents for posts they don't want you to see.
Firmware
The built-in software that runs a device like a router or console, which you should keep updated to patch security holes.
For You Page (FYP)
TikTok's endless, algorithm-chosen feed of videos from strangers, which can serve a child harmful content very fast.
Fortnite
A wildly popular online shooter with voice chat and heavy in-game spending, where the chat and strangers are a bigger worry than the cartoon violence.
Gacha
A game mechanic where you spend real money to 'pull' for a random character or item — gambling-style odds aimed squarely at kids.
Generative AI
AI that creates new text, images, voices or video on request, which powers both handy homework helpers and fake nudes and scams.
Geolocation
A device's ability to work out and share where it physically is, which apps and photos can broadcast without you realizing.
Geotagging
When a photo or post automatically records the exact spot it was taken, quietly revealing your home or your child's school.
Ghost / decoy app
An app designed to look innocent on the home screen while hiding its real contents, so a quick glance at the phone reveals nothing.
Griefing
When a player deliberately ruins the game for others by wrecking their stuff or harassing them for fun.
Grooming
When an adult slowly builds trust with a child online — flattery, gifts, secrets, moving to a private chat — so they can exploit them later. It rarely looks scary at first; that's what makes it work.
Group chat
A private message thread with several people at once — the modern school-yard. Most of the bullying, exclusion and 'you had to be there' drama now happens inside them.
Hotspot
Using a phone's mobile data to give another device internet, which lets a kid get a tablet online completely around the home Wi-Fi filter.
Identity theft
When a criminal uses someone's stolen personal details to open accounts or take out money in their name.
Image-based abuse
When intimate or nude images of someone are shared, or threatened to be shared, without their consent. In the US, NCMEC's Take It Down service can help get this material removed — report it, don't sit on it.
In-app purchase
Anything you can spend real money on inside an app or game — skins, coins, extra lives, subscriptions. Turn on purchase approvals so nothing is bought without you tapping OK.
Incel
An online subculture of men who blame women for their loneliness, often a gateway to deeply misogynistic and violent content.
Incognito mode
A browser setting that stops that device from saving history, which kids use so visited sites don't show up — though it doesn't hide anything from a network filter.
iOS
Apple's operating system — the software that runs iPhones and iPads. It's where you'll find Screen Time, the built-in parental controls.
IP address
The numeric 'return address' every device uses online, which can roughly reveal where someone is connecting from.
Jailbreak
Removing Apple's built-in restrictions on an iPhone or iPad so it can run apps and tweaks Apple blocks — which also switches off a lot of the safety.
KMS / KYS
Shorthand for 'kill myself' and the hostile 'kill yourself' — either one in your child's chats is worth taking seriously, not brushing off as slang.
Livestream
A video broadcast happening live, with anyone in the world able to watch and comment in real time. Kids can be both the audience and the broadcaster, which is where a lot of the risk sits.
LLM
A 'large language model' — the engine behind chatbots like ChatGPT that generates human-sounding answers by predicting likely words, not by truly understanding.
LMIRL
'Let's meet in real life' — a phrase that should always prompt a closer look at who your child is talking to.
Location sharing
A feature that lets chosen contacts (or sometimes anyone) see where a device is in real time, which is safest kept to trusted family only.
Loot box
A mystery in-game prize — you (or your child) pay real money for a random reward. It's gambling with the serial numbers filed off, and it's baked into a lot of the games kids play.
Malware
Harmful software that sneaks onto a device to spy on it, steal information or hold files for ransom — often hidden inside a sketchy download or game 'mod'.
Metadata
The hidden details tucked inside a photo or file — like the time, date and GPS location it was taken — that can reveal more than the picture itself.
MMO
A 'massively multiplayer online' game where thousands of strangers share the same world and can chat with your child.
Mobile data
The internet a phone gets through its SIM instead of Wi-Fi, which isn't covered by any home or router filtering.
Modding
Installing unofficial add-ons that change a game, which can bring in inappropriate content or hidden malware.
Money mule
A person — often a teen lured by 'easy cash' — who lets criminals move stolen money through their own bank account, which is a crime even if they didn't steal it.
NSFW
'Not safe for work' — a tag warning that a link or post contains explicit or graphic content.
Online 'challenge'
A dare that spreads through social apps, ranging from silly to genuinely dangerous, that kids feel pressure to copy for views.
Online stranger contact
When someone your child has never met in real life starts messaging them through a game or app, which is how most grooming begins.
OnlyFans
An adults-only subscription site known for explicit content, which teens may try to view or, worryingly, be pressured to create content for.
Operating system (OS)
The core software that runs a whole device — iOS on iPhones, Android on most other phones, Windows on PCs.
Oversharing
Posting personal details — location, school, routines, feelings — that seem harmless alone but hand a stranger everything they need to target a child.
Parental controls
The free settings built into devices, apps and Wi-Fi that let you filter content, cap screen time and approve what kids install. They're not a magic wand — they work best next to conversation and shared-space device rules.
Pay-to-win
A game design where spending real money gives a clear advantage, pressuring kids to pay to keep up with friends.
Phishing
A fake message — text, email, DM or in-game chat — designed to trick someone into handing over passwords, money or personal info. Kids get hit through 'free Robux' offers and account-recovery scams.
Pig-butchering scam
A long-game scam where a stranger builds trust over weeks, then lures the victim into a fake crypto or investment app that eats all their money.
Pile-on
When a crowd of strangers all attack one person online at once, turning a single nasty comment into an avalanche.
POS / 9 / 99
Teen code warning friends a parent is watching — 'POS' means 'parent over shoulder', '9' means a parent's nearby, '99' means they've gone.
Privacy settings
The controls in each app that decide who can see, contact or find your child — usually worth switching to the most private option.
Pro-ana content
Posts and communities that encourage eating disorders as a lifestyle, which app algorithms can funnel to vulnerable teens.
Prompt
The instruction or question you type to get an answer out of an AI tool.
Proxy
A middle-man server that fetches websites on your behalf, which kids use to dodge school and home filters.
QR code
A square barcode you scan with a camera to open a link — handy, but it can hide a scam web address you can't read in advance.
Radicalization
The gradual process of being drawn into extremist beliefs online, usually by content that starts mild and escalates.
Rage-bait
Content posted on purpose to make people angry, because furious comments and shares push it to more screens.
Random-chat apps
Apps that pair a user with a random stranger for video or text chat, which repeatedly expose kids to adults and explicit content.
Ransomware
A type of malware that locks up your files and demands payment to unlock them.
Red-pilling
Slang for slowly pulling someone — often a teen boy — into an extreme or hateful worldview, one video and forum post at a time.
Report and block
The two in-app buttons that stop someone contacting your child and flag them to the platform — the first thing to do with any creepy or abusive account.
Revenge porn
Sharing someone's nude or intimate images to humiliate or control them, usually after a break-up — in the US, NCMEC's Take It Down service can help get it removed.
Roblox
A hugely popular platform of kid-made games with open chat, where the main risks are strangers in chat and pressure to spend real money.
Romance scam
When a fake online admirer builds a 'relationship' with someone, then invents emergencies to squeeze money out of them.
Rooting
The Android version of jailbreaking — unlocking deep control of the phone, which can strip out parental controls and security.
Router
The little box from your internet provider that gives your house its Wi-Fi. Because everything at home goes through it, changing one setting on the router can filter the whole family's internet in one go.
Scam link
A link in a DM, text or game chat that leads to a fake login or 'free reward' page built to steal passwords or payment details.
Screen time
The total time a child spends on phones, tablets, consoles and computers each day. The goal isn't zero — it's making sure screens don't crowd out sleep, movement, homework and face-to-face time.
Screen Time (Apple)
The free parental-control settings built into every iPhone, iPad and Mac. It's where you set app limits, downtime, content filters and app-store approvals for a child's device.
Self-generated imagery
Nude images a child takes of themselves — often sent to a partner or coaxed out by a stranger — which still count as abuse material and spread fast once they leave the phone.
Self-harm content
Posts that show, glorify or give instructions for self-harm, which recommendation feeds can push to at-risk kids.
Sextortion
When someone tricks or pressures a child into sending a nude, then threatens to share it unless the child pays or sends more. It moves very fast and mostly targets boys — get help the same night; don't pay, don't delete.
Shadow ban
When a platform quietly limits how many people see someone's posts without telling them.
Sideloading
Installing an app from outside the official store, which skips the store's safety checks and your approval settings.
Simp
Teen slang, often mocking, for someone seen as doing too much to win another person's attention or affection.
Skin (gaming)
A cosmetic outfit or look for a character in a game — no gameplay benefit, pure status. Skins are the main thing kids beg to spend money on.
Smishing
Phishing done by text message — a fake 'parcel delivery' or 'bank alert' SMS designed to trick you into tapping a scam link.
Snap Map
Snapchat's live map that shows exactly where your child is to everyone they've added, unless 'Ghost Mode' is switched on.
Snapchat
A messaging app where photos and chats vanish by default and a live map shows friends' locations — popular with teens and a common spot for sextortion.
Spam account
A private alt account a teen shares only with close friends for unfiltered, throwaway posts.
Spoofing
When a message or caller is faked to look like it comes from someone you trust — your bank, a friend, or even your own number.
Spyware
Hidden software that secretly watches what someone does on their device and reports it back to whoever installed it.
Stalkerware
Secret monitoring apps marketed to spy on a partner or ex, which track messages, calls and location without the person knowing.
Story
A photo or video post that disappears after 24 hours, which kids treat as lower-stakes and so post more impulsively.
Streaming
Watching or listening to something over the internet in real time — Netflix, YouTube, Twitch, Spotify. 'Livestreaming' is the same idea, but broadcast live as it happens, often with a chat running alongside.
Sus
Short for 'suspicious' — handy to know because it's the word kids themselves use when a person or message feels off.
Swatting
A dangerous prank where someone makes a fake emergency call to send armed police to a victim's real address, often sparked by a gaming grudge.
Telegram
A messaging app with enormous public channels and very light moderation — a common place for scams, extremist content and grown-ups messaging kids they've never met.
The cloud
Storing files and photos on a company's internet servers instead of only on your device, so they sync across gadgets — and keep existing even after you delete them from the phone.
Thirst trap
A deliberately sexy selfie posted to fish for attention, likes and comments.
Training data
The huge pile of text and images an AI learned from, which can include your family's public posts and photos.
Trolling
Posting deliberately cruel or inflammatory comments just to upset people and get a reaction.
Twitch
A livestreaming site built around gaming, where kids both watch strangers and can broadcast themselves to a live chat of adults.
Two-factor authentication (2FA)
A second step when logging in — usually a code sent to your phone or email — so a stolen password on its own isn't enough. Turn it on for your child's email and any account tied to their gaming or social apps.
Vault app
An app disguised as something harmless — like a calculator — that secretly hides photos, messages or other apps behind a password.
Vishing
A scam phone call, sometimes using an AI-cloned voice, that pressures the victim into handing over money or codes.
Voice chat
Talking live through a headset during a game, where strangers can speak directly to your child with nothing written down afterwards.
Voice cloning
AI that copies a real person's voice from a short clip, now used in scams where a 'grandchild' or 'child' phones in a panic asking for money.
VPN
A tool that hides your internet traffic and makes it look like your device is somewhere else. Handy for adults on dodgy Wi-Fi, but kids also use free VPNs to sneak around parental controls and site blocks.
WhatsApp
A hugely popular messaging app with encrypted chats and large group chats, where the risk is unknown adults added to a group.
Wi-Fi
The wireless internet your devices connect to at home, at school or at the café — provided by a router. Different Wi-Fi networks can have very different filtering, so your kid's phone isn't automatically protected once they leave home.
WTM / WYD
'What's the move?' and 'What you doing?' — common openers for making plans, worth noticing when they come from someone you don't know.
Missing a word? Let me know and I’ll add it — same plain-English, same mom voice.