Police are warning parents to look out for children using a horse emoji on their phones.
Having a child in the ever-evolving 21st century may be daunting, with technology rapidly increasing and access to the world with just a few clicks.
The internet allows us to reach, connect, and consume content at rapid rates, which comes with many benefits.
However, the younger generation is particularly vulnerable to radicalization due to their impressionability and susceptibility to influence.
New threats and dangers are constantly emerging, and many children don’t understand the risks of using social media.
The Netflix series Adolescence explores how ‘manosphere’ and ‘red pill’ influencers affect young people.
The wave of ‘manosphere’ content promotes masculinity, misogyny, and opposition to feminism, linking with far right-wing ideology and the incel movement.
Incels are men who blame women and society for their lack of romantic success, they believe women have too much power in the s**ual/romantic sphere.
They class themselves as ‘involuntary celibate,’ this group of men is the most violent sector in the ‘manosphere,’ inciting violence against women and girls.
In the drama Adolescence, viewers follow a 13-year-old boy who is arrested for murdering a classmate.
As the series unfolds we learn it was a violent attack on a young girl.
During the series, prominent manosphere influencer Andrew Tate is touched upon.
The BBC reports that schools have seen an increase in pupils as young as 11 and 13 using s**ist language used by online influencers such as Tate.
In the Netflix series, emojis are used among children as code words.
In one scene viewers learn: “The red pill is like ‘I see the truth.’ It’s a call to action by the manosphere.”
Dr. Robert Lawson, an expert on sociolinguistics from Birmingham City University, told The Conversation: “The cyberpunk blockbuster The Matrix is the source of a key symbol in the manosphere – the red pill.’
Manosphere influencers describe adopting misogynist views as ‘taking the red pill’ and waking up from the illusions of the ‘Matrix’ of conventional thought.
Dr. Lawson also shared: “In the manosphere, those who have been ‘red-pilled’ see the world as it really is, understanding the so-called ‘real’ nature of women’s behavior and dating preferences.”
The Netflix series reveals that a dynamite emoji represents an ‘exploding red pill’ – meaning that someone is an incel.
Adolescence explains the ‘100’ emoji is another incel symbol, related to the ’80 to 20 rule.’
A character reveals: “80 percent of women are attracted to 20 percent of men, ‘Women, you must trick them because you’ll never get them in a normal way.”
The series also says that the kidney bean emoji is used to call someone an incel.
The Netflix original gives an insight into how children use emojis to communicate. Many of the text icons that the older generations believe are harmless have a completely different meaning.
In the drama, drug use is also mentioned – it’s explored how certain emojis are linked with a variety of different substances.
In the U.K., police have published a guide for parents that decodes what emojis may be used to symbolize drugs.
The guide reveals that an alien, demon mask, space invader, skull, or crossbones emojis may be a reference to M*MA.
The use of a snowflake, snowman, or the blowfish text icon may be related to coca**e.
It says a range of emojis are used for cannabis, such as dogs, cake, and ice cream to various types of fruit, such as lemons and purple grapes.
A maple leaf, four-leaf clover, or trees and leaves are commonly used to reference weed.
The report also warns parents to be aware of the horse emoji, which refers to the horse-tranquilizer drug ketamine.
