The terminology used online and offline can be baffling at times, especially among younger people who often use slang words. New words and phrases are created all the time with new technologies constantly emerging.
Our glossary is here to help you get familiar with some of these words and phrases.
Algorithms are instructions that a computer program follows to perform a certain task. Examples include showing personalised ads online or suggesting content you might like on social media.
Algorithms use cookies to learn about your browsing habits and understand your interests. If a user interacts with hateful or misleading content, algorithms can also create echo chambers that lead to more online hate and spread more misinformation.
AR stands for Augmented Reality. It is a type of technology that often uses smartphone cameras and special apps to change something about the real world. For example, Pokémon Go is a mobile game where users point their smartphone camera at an outdoor space to see and capture virtual pokémon.
It is not just popular with gaming. Other AR apps, for example, can turn a real-world image into a digital video that users can watch. Others are used for education.
When using AR, it’s important to remain aware of your surroundings.
Online aggression that isn’t always viewed as bullying. It can include insults or threats due to appearance, race, religion, sexuality, gender or disability. Or threats to harm a person or their family.
Cyberflashing is when someone sends an inappropriate, often sexually explicit, photo to someone else. This might be through standard text messaging, dating sites or social media but can also happen through AirDrop on Apple devices or other means that use Bluetooth. These images are sent without consent of the recipient.
In some cases, the recipient may see a preview of the image being sent to them through Bluetooth. This means that even if they refuse the image, they will have already seen part of it. As such, this could be especially harmful for young people.
When one child or young person cyberflashes another child or young person, this is a form of child-on-child (or peer-on-peer) abuse.
Deadnaming is a form of bullying that specifically targets those who are trans (they identify as a different gender from the one they were assigned at birth).
When someone is trans, they often choose a new name that better suits their identity. For example, someone who was assigned a girl at birth and received a traditionally feminine name who then transitions to male may choose to be called by a traditionally masculine name.
While most common among trans individuals, others who choose a different name for themselves may also experience deadnaming.
If a new name is chosen and someone continues to call that person by their old name, this is called deadnaming. When deadnaming is done with ill-intent (i.e. not by accident), this is bullying behaviour and should be reported.
Digital literacy often links to misinformation, disinformation and fake news. It looks at someone’s ability to not only find information online and through devices but to also evaluate that information. It requires critical thinking skills important in a child’s development. Sometimes called media literacy, digital literacy also looks at someone’s ability to create and communicate information in effective ways.
DuckDuckGo is an internet search engine that promotes greater privacy than competing popular search engines. It is designed to avoid filter bubbles and to restrict results from content farms.
An echo chamber is something that happens where users online only see content that confirms their current beliefs. Online, they may occur because of algorithms suggesting related content.
For example, if someone likes, comments or shares content from an influencer who spreads misogyny, the algorithm may suggest content from other similar influencers. Eventually, all the content a user sees will be about misogyny. This can lead to users having an unbalanced and misinformed view of the world.
See also: filter bubbles
A filter bubble is a situation caused by algorithms, which limits the content a user might see on social media or other online spaces. Algorithms do not have the ability to assess information it suggests; it only learns users’ habits and interests.
Social media algorithms might create a filter bubble by ‘hiding’ content users don’t interact with. This means that opposing views and different perspectives on topics are hidden from users’ feeds.
See also: echo chamber
Hate raids are online attacks during video streams. Anonymous users join a stream and then fill the chat with hate speech and harassment towards the streamer. It is a form of cyberbullying and online hate.
Huggy Wuggy is a villain from the game Poppy Playtime. While the terms sound harmless, the game is actually part of the horror genre. The developers recommend it for children aged 8 and over while Common Sense Media says they do not recommend it for children under 13. However, many Huggy Wuggy dolls are available for sale in shops and arcades, making it a popular toy for younger children.
Some videos on YouTube feature Huggy Wuggy, so parents should be vigilant and ensure their child is using YouTube Kids or that other parental controls are set.
Incels are part of communities against women. It comes from the words ‘involuntarily celibate’ and refers to men’s struggle to find a girlfriend or wife. “Incels believe they are entitled to a relationship with a woman. . . . Multiple acts of extreme violence and even murder have been attributed to this group.”
See also misogyny.
Kahoot is an interactive quizzing platform often used in classrooms. It is available in-browser or can be downloaded as an app. Kahoot offers a range of topics, quiz styles and options for study and revision, so may be a good tool to use with your child when it comes to learning or revising.
Login refers to the username and password you use to sign into an online account. Login is a noun (thing) while ‘log in’ is a verb (action) and is another term for sign in.
Log off/on is the action of signing into an online account. Logging on may sometimes be called logging in. This should not be confused with ‘login’, which is a noun instead of a verb (action word).
The metaverse is an idea for the next stage of digital use. It is often associated with virtual reality (VR). However, it can be accessed in other ways too. The biggest idea for the metaverse relates to connection between different worlds and platforms.
Some may also associate social media platform Facebook with the metaverse and company Meta.
Misgendering is a form of bullying that specifically targets people who are trans (they identify as a different gender from the one they were assigned at birth). Instead of using the pronouns a person has chosen for themselves, someone might use their ‘original’ pronouns.
This is generally bullying if this is done with intent to disregard their trans identity.
Misogyny is simply hate against women. It may be accompanied by discussion of women as lesser than men and comes up in online communities populated by incels. These communities may influence young men to think that they need to treat women poorly or trick women into going out with them.
The opposite of misogyny is misandry. In a similar way, misandry means hate against men.
Pronounced ‘fishing’, this is an attempt to trick people into visiting malicious websites by sending emails or other messages which pretend to come from banks or online shops. The emails have links in them which take people to fake sites set up to look like the real thing, where passwords and account details can be stolen.
Learn more about phishing with advice from ESET.
VR stands for Virtual Reality. It is an experience where ‘reality’ is simulated, often with a VR headset. Users can interact with digital spaces that feel real to the brain even if images don’t look realistic.
It is a new type of gaming that is becoming more accessible to people because of arcades dedicated to VR.
VR headsets can cause some users to feel nauseated or unwell, so it’s important to take care when using virtual reality.
See articles and resources to help children stay safe online.