The hidden meaning of these emoji 💯💊 and why a Netflix show is making waves

The creators behind the hit Netflix mini-series "Adolescence" have a message for parents: Teenage boys are in a crisis, and parents need to pay attention.

The gripping four-episode crime drama follows the story of 13-year-old Jamie Miller (Owen Cooper), who is arrested for the alleged murder of his classmate Katie. As the series investigates the murder, it becomes clear Miller was radicalized by misogynistic culture online, painting a raw picture of the pressure teens face today.

Each episode is filmed in one continuous shot, adding to the intensity. The program became Netflix's most-watched limited series in its first two weeks since its launch on March 13 and is currently the second-most-watched show on the streaming platform.

The show's cowriter Jack Thorne says he wants the show to be a way into the conversation about teens and masculinity.

“There is a need for a conversation about boys and about girls, about the harm being done to girls, and about the implicit violence that's happening in coded conversations between girls and boys all the time," Thorne says.

Hidden meanings behind emoji

In the show’s second episode, Detective Inspector Luke Bascombe (Ashley Walters) struggles to get leads on why Jamie would have killed Katie. That is, until his son Adam (Amari Bacchus), who is also a student at Jamie’s school, tells his dad he’s missing something.

Bascombe assumed Jamie and Katie were friendly based on their Instagram interactions, but Adam tells him there are hidden meanings behind the emoji in Katie’s comments on Jamie’s page indicating she was cyberbullying him.

He takes out his phone to show Bascombe one of the comments: a dynamite, then a red pill emoji.

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"The red pill is like, 'I see the truth.' It’s a call to action by the manosphere,” Adam says. “She’s saying he’s an incel, Dad.”

Incel, meaning "involuntarily celibate" refers to heterosexual men who consider themselves unable to find romantic or sexual intimacy and often express misogynistic views. They are one of the sub communities of the manosphere.

The term “red pilled” comes from a scene in the 1999 movie “The Matrix” where a character chooses between a red pill that reveals the realities of the world and a blue bill offering blissful ignorance. Those in the manosphere, a web of conservative cultural critics, use it to refer to being awakened to the supposed truth about men and women.

In the second episode, Adam also explains teens use heart emoji to convey different meanings depending on color: "Red means love; purple, horny; yellow, 'I’m interested, are you interested'; pink, 'I’m interested but not in sex'; orange, 'You’re going to be fine.'"

In the third episode, Jamie explains that the kidney bean emoji is associated with being an incel, and he says the 100 emoji 💯 refers to a theory on attraction that has become a grievance often parroted within the manosphere.

The interaction between Bascombe and Adam depicts the challenges for parents looking to decode kids’ online language. Parents in Bascombe’s generation generally use emoji at their face value meaning or casually added onto the end of a text message, while young people often assign their own creative or ironic connotations to the symbols.

“It’s just hard to believe, all that from two symbols,” Bascombe remarks, to which his son responds, “It all has a meaning, dad. Everything has a meaning."

What the show can teach teens about male loneliness

During his writing process, Thorne steeped himself in pockets of incel culture online through streaming videos, podcasts and corners of Reddit and 4chan. He was surprised by the strong pull of the material – not just from known names like Andrew Tate, but from less controversial gaming and fitness creators who were at the “bottom of the waterfall.”

“As a teenager, I would have totally believed that we're living in this female-dominated space, that our very nature is under threat, and that our job as men is to get fit, get as attractive as possible and learn how to manipulate and possibly even harm in order to reset that equation" between men and women, Thorne says.

Early adolescence is a period that can feel “confusing” and “extremely isolating” for teenage boys as they develop a stronger sense of identity, according to Dr. Caroline Fenkel, the chief clinical officer with Charlie Health, a virtual mental health platform for struggling teens and adults. They are evolutionarily wired for risk-taking during teenage years as their circadian rhythms shift and reward systems develop.

“Without strong emotional support systems, they're more likely to seek out anything – people, content or behaviors – that gives them a temporary sense of relief, power or belonging,” Fenkel says.

Boys and young men are increasingly seeking out online spaces as they struggle with loneliness. A quarter of men under 30 report they have no close friends. Half as many men as women say they received emotional support from a friend within the past week, according to 2021 surveys by the Survey Center on American Life.

Viewers get further insight into Jamie’s descent into misogyny in the third episode during an intense series of exchanges between him and his court-ordered psychologist (Erin Doherty), that touch on his upbringing and views on relationships and sexuality. During the exchange, he shares that he had viewed nude photos of Katie and that she later cyberbullied him for being an incel.

How to talk to teens about the show

The show “just scratches the surface” of issues teens are dealing with today, says Titania Jordan, the chief marketing officer at Bark Technologies, a parental controls app focused on kids safety online.

“This show is a gift to every parent who is struggling with feeling like they've lost control and that ship has sailed, because it hasn't,” Jordan says. “You can start the conversation with your child and let them know, ‘Hey, I just watched this series on Netflix, and it gutted me.’ And because of this, I want to talk to you about a few things.”

Thorne on March 23 joined 100,000 parents who support the Smartphone Free Childhood Pact, a pledge not to give children smartphones until the age of 14. 

For those who aren’t ready to make that jump, Jordan says disconnecting tech from childrens’ bedrooms is a good place to start. She encourages parents to set an example for their teens by using their phones in common areas of the home, and leaving it downstairs to charge at night. Alternatively, parents could start by setting time limits and filters on apps.

Fenkel says parents should let teens know that home is a space to talk without judgement and should validate teens’ feelings even if they don’t immediately understand the issue at hand.

“If something they see online makes them upset, curious or even oddly drawn in, they should feel like they can come to you without getting in trouble,” Fenkel says. "When they do open up, listen more than you talk.”

Rachel Hale’s role covering youth mental health at USA TODAY is funded by a grant from Pivotal Ventures. Pivotal Ventures does not provide editorial input. Reach her at rhale@usatoday.com and @rachelleighhale on X.