Emojis from Netflix’s Adolescence expose how language is evolving faster than before

SINGAPORE – “How can you be involuntarily celibate at 13? Who isn’t celibate at 13?” says a police-inspector father in the Netflix crime drama series Adolescence (2025).

This was in response to his child expressing frustration that he doesn’t know what the “pill emoji” means, or what it means to be called an “incel”. 

Part of the show’s viral appeal, beyond its cinematography and compelling acting, is how it taps into how people increasingly communicate through the lens of internet culture and obscure memes.

Adolescence piqued curiosity across the globe into the coded language of the manosphere, with terms like “red pilled” and the “80/20 rule”.

Incel, short for “involuntarily celibate”, forms one part of the broader manosphere, a constellation of online anti-feminist and misogynistic communities. Incels blame society, feminism and genetics for their lack of romantic and sexual relationships.

Members of the manosphere describe themselves as having been “red pilled”, a term borrowed from the science-fiction film The Matrix (1999). In this context, rather than waking up from a simulation, being red pilled means waking up to the “truth” that feminism has corrupted society.

The show only scratches the surface of the vocabulary of the manosphere, with terms like “mogging”, “looksmaxxing” and “sigma male” being so popular now that they have entered mainstream internet culture.

“Looksmaxxing”, for instance, refers to increasing your success by upgrading your appearance. It has become a popular slang term among TikTok users unaware of its origins on incel forums.

A similar dynamic can be seen in other niche online terms seeping into everyday speech.

Dictionary.com selected “6-7” as its word of the year. Originating from a hip hop song called Doot Doot, the term went viral across Instagram and TikTok despite having no fixed meaning.

The online dictionary states that it is “purposefully nonsensical and all about being in on the absurdity”, emblematic of the “brainrot” slang of Gen Z and Gen Alpha.

Similarly, Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh, who stars as Madame Morrible in the Wicked musical films (2024 to 2025), became a viral meme by repeatedly saying that her character’s initials, when flipped upside down, become “WW” or “Wicked Witch”.

This expression is now used in all manner of contexts, many unrelated to the film.

In his book Algospeak (2025), American linguist Adam Aleksic notes that the internet has fundamentally changed the way language evolves. Many terms, like “unalive” (a substitute for “kill” or “suicide”), are adopted to avoid censorious platform policies. Algorithms increasingly facilitate the rise of niche communities with their own slang, from Swifties to K-pop fans, cryptocurrency enthusiasts and incels.

Slang now evolves at a much faster pace than at any other time in human history, with terms going out of style in a matter of months, rather than years.

For parents trying to understand what their children are saying, the challenge extends beyond the usual generational gap. As exemplified by the show Adolescence, a chasm has emerged because of how social media algorithms deliver a different internet to every member of the family.

Though many of these in-jokes are harmless, it highlights in dramatic fashion how the burdens of parenting today come coded and not quite the same as they were for previous generations.