Online, 'unalive' means death or suicide. Experts say it might help kids discuss those things
The word “unalive” to refer to death by suicide or homicide was coined by social media users as a way to fool algorithms on sites and apps that censor posts containing violent content
When Emily Litman was in middle school, kids whose parents grounded them would blithely lament: “I just want to die." Now she's a middle school teacher in New Jersey, and when her students' phones and TikTok access are taken away, their out-loud whining has a 21st-century digital twist: “I feel so unalive.”
Litman, 46, teaches English as a second language to students in Jersey City. Her students don’t use — and perhaps have never even heard — English words like “suicide.” But they know “unalive.”
“These are kids who’ve had to learn English and are now learning TikToklish,” Litman says.
“Unalive” refers to death by suicide or homicide. It can function as adjective or verb and joins similar phrasing — like “mascara,” to mean sexual assault — coined by social media users as a workaround to fool algorithms on sites and apps that censor posts containing discussion of explicit or violent content.
