Teens are using Secret Hashtags to Share Dangerous Habits

A recent article posted on Reuters outlined how some teens are using secret hashtags to communicate with other teens about dangerous habits such as eating disorders, cutting, burning, scratching to damage themselves and more. They are using hashtags that their parents don’t identify as being potentially harmful. Examples include:

#blithe
#MySecretFamily
#SecretSociety123
#Deb(for depression)
#Annie(for anxiety)
#Olive(for obsessive-compulsive disorder)
#cat(refers to cutting)
#selfharmmm

The number of search results for self-harm hashtags was high and grew over time.

The broad term #cat, which refers to cutting, had more than 44 million search results in 2014 and more than 56 million in 2015, the study team reports in the Journal of Adolescent Health.

Over that same period, use of #selfharmmm also grew, generating 1.7 million search results in 2014 and more than 2.4 million in 2015. In its various permutations, #SecretSociety123 grew by approximately 500,000 search results.

This is something to make parents aware of and to make sure they monitor their kids social media. Kids are good at hiding issues from their parents so this is one more way to monitor them to make sure they are happy and healthy.

Here is a link to the original article: Teens are Using Secret Hashtags to Share Dangerous Habits